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Is perception the same as choice the same as discernment?


Perception: late Middle English: from Latin perceptio(n-), from the verb percipere ‘seize, understand’, from per- ‘entirely’ + capere ‘take’.

an idea, a belief or an image you have as a result of how you see or understand something

the way you notice things, especially with the senses

the ability to understand the true nature of something

Choice: Middle English: from Old French chois, from choisir ‘choose’, of Germanic origin and related to choose.

an act of choosing between two or more possibilities.

Discernement: late Middle English: via Old French from Latin discernere, from dis- ‘apart’ + cernere ‘to separate’.

Discern - to know, recognize or understand something, especially something that is not obvious

Definitions from https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/

So all three words are slightly different. There seems to be a flow between perception, choice and discernment though. You first perceive, you see with depth. In perception, there is implied understanding. Discernment is the capability that unites seeing, understanding and knowledge. Choice leads to action. Discernment is the overarching capability that helps both perception and choice.


So perception may be related to the senses,

choice to context and situation and

discernment to right perception and right choice or ethics.

Perception begins with the senses. The senses connect to the mind and so add up to much more than their parts. We say ‘I sense something’ or ‘I have a gut feeling’, so the body is very much involved in what we understand. And yet we think that ‘higher level’ perception is an intellectual quality almost divorced from the gross physical world. The more ‘educated’ person moves into the mental world, leaving behind the body, engaging with the world more and more with the mind.

Can physical perception, say the ability to differentiate between colours or materials or textures fine tune ‘higher’ perception?

Choices are made based on perception and the situation for which the choice is made. When we choose what to eat for breakfast, it is based on what is available, what we want to eat, how much time we have, nutrition or calories, and a hundred different variables. We don’t consciously go through all these variables, since we eat breakfast everyday, but we do vary it according to the practical situation of the day. We become aware of the possibilities only when there is a break-down (Varela) – when the alarm doesn’t ring and we’re late. Perception makes us aware of all the possibilities and discernment helps us make the right choice. The choice is in the short term of whether to have toast or coffee and also in the long term of building towards health and well being. Discernment helps us to align with both immediate coping and with long term good.

Design is about conscious action for a preferred future. It is about imagining something that is not there at present. In that imagination a million choices are made and projected on to that preferred object/situation/emotion. Discernment in design could help to toggle between the macro and the micro view, between the immediate and long-term consequences of choice.

Writing the design brief for any project is an exercise in discernment – the research prior to the brief opens up all the possibilities in the context and the brief is a choice of where the intervention is to be located physically, emotionally and philosophically.

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Some Games to test perception

Blind tests

Sorting in size and weight

Drill bits, washers, screws, wires

Visual tests

Sorting colour

Form transitions

Spot the 10 differences

Material tests

Plywood, wood, mdf

Silk, cotton, blends

Paints – acrylics, poster paint, alcohol markers

https://www.colormunki.com/game/huetest_kiosk

https://www.playbuzz.com/ashleystevens10/can-you-pass-the-perception-test

https://quizpug.com/can-you-pass-this-tough-visual-perception-test/?r=3q627

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