Re: "Wahrnehmung- Falschnehmung before late roll call

Christine Happle (christine.happle.1 who-is-at sm-philhist.unibe.ch)
Tue, 01 Dec 1998 22:07:27 +0100

Hallo Eva,
<Turning to Eva, ...>
I remember the lightning joke! The Bernese are well known for their slown=
ess
:-), which actually has its origin in the modulating pattern of the Berne=
se
dialect: It takes more time
modulating words and sentences in this melodious way of speaking.

<Turning to interested people>
About "Wahrnehmung oder Falschnehmung" (noun) or "wahrnehmen oder falschn=
ehmen"
(verb): I=92m borrowing the term from A. Lang's fascinating lectures abo=
ut
perception and sensation, it is his creation of a pun. In German the word
"Wahrnehmung" (perception) means true-taking, as you sugessted. "Falschne=
hmung=94
means false-taking a pun with the word "Wahrnehmung". Both parts of the c=
ombined
word "Falsch-nehmung / falsch-nehmen=94 exist alone. There also exist lo=
t of
other combinations words like "Falschaussage, Falschgeld, Falschmeldung..=
.=94

I like the pun, because it reminds me of the perception stuff I learned w=
ith A.
Lang. Just a few thoughts, to give you a glimpse of it: The pun implise t=
hat we
can take our perception either as true (which we usually do) or false. Th=
e pun
makes the judgement aspect obvious, which is involved in every perception=
. We
are in some sense prisoners of our perception, we depend on it to get any
information. Differences relative to time or/and space are needed in orde=
r to be
able to perceive anything. Every perceived piece of information therefore=
needs
a frame of reference.
Another key question is: "What or where is the real reality?=94 Is it our
subjective experience inside us or is it a material "objective=94 outside=
? The
question deals with the duality-problem matter-mind, which leads even aft=
er
hundreds of years to a dead end. There is no perception if both parts (ma=
tter
and mind) are not involved. Even the useful "objective=94 Natural Science=
needs
perception. They negotiated intersubjective agreements about what they ta=
ke as
true. The question whether this truth found by natural science is better =
then
the subjective experienced truth from each of us needs to remain open.
Perception is not a copy of the real world, it is co-constituted by an ac=
tive
and productive perceptive system with its ideal and material aspects. Due=
to its
own laws the perceptive system can make errors. To make a long story shor=
t: In
the lectures Lang asked the students: "Why do we not hear a lightning and=
see
the thunder?=94 It is due to our organization of perception; its organiza=
tion
could as well be quite different, which one could find with other animals.

Eva Ekeblad wrote:

> At 15.41 +0100 98-11-24, Christine Happle wrote:
> >Despite the discussion has moved on: Here is my "late hands up"
> >contribution to
> >the list.
>
> Hello Christine! Nice to hear your familiar voice in the parlour
> conversation for a moment... I couldn't see your face over there by the=
far
> wall in the lurker crowd! Most of them I have, of course never met...
> <turning to the crowd> You see, Christine and I were guests at the LCH=
C at
> the same time last winter. <turning back to Christine> Do you remember
> telling me about the Bernese lightning? which is slower than elsewhere.=
..
> You know, you may very well be the last to join the "hands up - roll ca=
ll",
> as a lot of the people will be off celebrating Thanksgiving. And then, =
you
> know how quickly the conversation passes and forgets!
>
> I also liked the name of the second course you are teaching. Is there
> really a WORD "Falschnehmung?" -- or is it a pun on "Wahrnehmung"?
> perception=3Dtrue-taking!!
>
> Eva
>
> At 15.41 +0100 98-11-24, Christine Happle wrote:
> >I'm studying environmental and cultural psychology with
> >Prof. Alfred Lang at the University of Bern.
> ...
> >To earn my living I'm involved in teacher in-service training or rathe=
r the
> >courses on "Mensch und Umwelt" (Human and Environment) and "Wahrnehmun=
g oder
> >Falschnehmung" (Perception)