Amanda Oseguera
Professor Saake
English Writing 302
5 February 2015
Journal #5
Prompt:
Ackerman writes on page 301 that we can “never leave the palace of our perceptions.” If our sensory experiences are experiences in the brain, what case can we make for our bodies? Also, are our experiences illusions?

Response: The brain is the center of all activity we sense and experience. Without our brain, we wouldn't be able to process and take in the sensory information from the world around us. However the case for our bodies is not entirely different. Through my education and learning so far regarding the human brain and biological psychology, I have learned that all that we sense is transmitted into the brain which then creates the image or sensation we perceive. This would imply that there simply isn't a case for our bodies, at least not biologically. I do believe in some sort of “sixth sense” or an intuition, but as for our physical bodies themselves I see it simply a representation of what our brain is perceiving from the receptors all over our body both centrally and peripherally. Next, I don't believe that our sensory experiences should be written off entirely as an illusion. However I do think that the way perceive the world is not the way other animals and species perceive it and that our way of seeing is unique to us. Just because we perceive the world the way we do does not mean that it is the way the world actually is or that it is the “correct” way of seeing the