Mason's First Chapter

I thought Mason's point b was interesting. In it, he examines the human ability to truly understand others around them. He begins by asserting that we are limited by our perceptions: Everything we know can change in an instant depending upon a new development, or a sudden change that forces us to encompass a new facet of character (pg. 8). Furthermore, he states that we may only understand someone based upon "instances" of how we see them, or the roles in which we perceive them, i.e. mother, daughter, friend, etc. This is thought-provoking, as he seems to recognize that our societal roles strongly influence relationships and perceptions. For example, some individuals treat their parents differently than their friends, and this treatment affects their "understanding" of the parents as individuals. The same would go for professors, and so on.

The next paragraph discusses the famous debate between understanding and knowledge (it seems inevitably to come back to this!). To understand, he says is to comprehend what it is to know, as well as what it is you know about yourself.