13 The World through Another’s Eyes
Eddy White; Josh Zimmerman; Ken S. McAllister; and Judd Ethan Ruggill
The word “perspective” has two roots, each trickier than you might realize. Take the second half of the word: “-spective.” It comes from the Latin word specere, which is often translated as “to see.” More accurately, though, specere means “to look at.” Anyone who’s watched the famous moonwalking bear video knows that “looking at” and “seeing” are two very different activities.
Similarly, the root per– in “perspective” is typically defined as “through,” though when we examine how it functions with the words it gets tacked onto it becomes clear that per– indicates the movement of something along a path: think of verbs like “to perfect” (to work to improve something) or “to perambulate” (to walk along).
Etymologically, then, “perspective” refers to the act of looking at something along a particular path. What’s really useful about this word history is that it explains a fundamental quality of “perspective”: when the path along which someone is looking changes, the appearance of the thing being looked at also changes. The implications of this realization are tremendous. Look at a car from the front and you’ll discover one set of details. Switch to a side view and you’ll gain a completely new picture. Both perspectives are true and accurate. Combine them and you’ll know more about the car than someone who’s only looked at it from a single angle.
Donna Haraway, however, cautions us to beware of “the god trick,” where we convince ourselves that we can see everything all at once rather than using a particular perspective (581). This is a “trick” because we’re always seeing from a particular perspective, which means that we always have a limited field of perception. Moreover, everything we see, hear, read, and interact with is interpreted through our previous experiences, our feelings and beliefs, and even the tools we use to record and measure the world and our place within it. In short, we can’t forget that it took us moving around the car — changing perspective — to get as much information as possible about it. And that information is still incomplete. An auto engineer, an industrial designer, a novelist, an environmental activist, and a manufacturing accountant will all see the same car differently.
Ultimately, Haraway’s argument is that true objectivity isn’t possible — it’s a trick. However, if we work hard at being aware of our own perspectives and the perspectives of others and if we try to account for how our own angle on things affects how we perceive the world, we can get a lot closer to objectivity. Taking stock of our own and others’ perspectives is an ongoing process because as we change — as we meet new people and learn new things — our perspectives change; these changes need to be accounted for as we mature and gain familiarity with new perspectives.
Our shifting perspectives, after all, help to establish how we see ourselves and the world around us. Our perspectives — we can hold several at once — are formed through our life experiences, culture, family, friends, and the society in which we live. Perspectives are made up of core convictions — foundational beliefs that shape how we perceive and interpret nearly everything we encounter — and these establish our point of view. Core convictions — and thus our point of view — can remain relatively stable, but they can also change over time, becoming more nuanced and more seasoned. Consider what life was like when you were 15 years old. How is it different now? How will your perspective necessarily change by the time you’re 45? 75?
You can expect your perspectives to change in college. Indeed, that’s part of the purpose of going to college — it provides a means of broadening and deepening your understanding of the human experience and the world around you. As we grow, we learn to see the world in new ways, even if our core convictions stay fairly stable. French novelist Marcel Proust describes this phenomenon elegantly: “The only true voyage of discovery . . . would be . . . to behold the universe through the eyes of another” (n.p.). UA is designed to facilitate this kind of “voyage of discovery,” helping you develop “the eyes of another” through which to view, experience, and process daily life and the world around you.
Importantly, “perspective” is not the same as “knowledge acquisition.” The former is a particular way of seeing, while the latter gives us a way to talk about what we’re seeing. They work in tandem. Think about looking at a piece of abstract art or a computer’s circuit board for the first time. With little knowledge, you may find it difficult to explain what you’re seeing — which would also make it difficult for you to answer the question, “What’s your perspective on this artwork or circuit board?” You have a perspective, you just don’t have the tools to talk about it meaningfully. With a little help, however (e.g., acquired knowledge from a teacher, friend, YouTube, and so on), you can learn to identify and talk about certain brushstrokes and the color palette (or reflow and silkscreen layering). Consequently, your perspective will be enriched, and you’ll be more articulate when you share that perspective with others. In some cases, you gain enough knowledge about your current perspective that you decide you’d like to explore others; this is often what happens when students change majors or decide to go to graduate school.
This interplay between knowledge acquisition and perspective is arguably one of the most wonderful parts of being alive. Learning new things, meeting new people, and taking on new perspectives are how we discover the limits of our perceptions and push beyond them. Just as importantly, knowledge acquisition helps us think about how we think, how we see, how we listen, read, and interact with the world and people around us. Such metacognition — thinking about one’s own thinking — is a key learning outcome of the University’s Gen Ed curriculum, and will empower you to explore your own thought processes and gain access to completely new ones, no matter your major, career path, or life journey.
Works Cited
Haraway, Donna. “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective.” Feminist Studies, vol. 14, no. 3, 1988, pp. 575–599.
Proust, Marcel. À la recherche du temps perdu. Translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff, vol. 5, Project Gutenberg Australia, 2014, https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300501.txt. Accessed 19 November 2021.
Metacognition is the process of becoming aware of and regulating your own thinking. It is, quite literally, thinking about thinking. Metacognition is a critical part of the learning process because when we understand our thought processes, we can be active in refining them.
About the authors
name: Eddy White
Eddy White is an associate professor of practice in the Department of Public & Applied Humanities. Aside from his professional role as an applied linguist and specialist in assessment, Eddy has a keen interest in exploring nature and motorcycles.
Metacognition is the process of becoming aware of and regulating your own thinking. It is, quite literally, thinking about thinking. Metacognition is a critical part of the learning process because when we understand our thought processes, we can be active in refining them.
name: Josh Zimmerman
Josh Zimmerman is an assistant professor of practice in the Department of Public & Applied Humanities. He grew up in rural Nebraska where he loved video games, dogs, and books. He’s now spun that into a life of teaching about games, reading constantly, and having lots of dogs.
Metacognition is the process of becoming aware of and regulating your own thinking. It is, quite literally, thinking about thinking. Metacognition is a critical part of the learning process because when we understand our thought processes, we can be active in refining them.
name: Ken S. McAllister
Ken McAllister is a professor in the Department of Public & Applied Humanities, and the associate dean for research & program innovation in the University of Arizona’s College of Humanities. In both of these roles, Ken is able to exercise his penchant for gaining new perspectives on the world, whether through his scholarly collaborations with language instructors, video game designers, community organizers, and software archivists, or through his administrative work assisting students, staff, and faculty from dozens of different disciplines to write grants and execute small and large scale projects.
Metacognition is the process of becoming aware of and regulating your own thinking. It is, quite literally, thinking about thinking. Metacognition is a critical part of the learning process because when we understand our thought processes, we can be active in refining them.
name: Judd Ruggill
Judd Ruggill is professor and head of the Department of Public & Applied Humanities. He primarily researches play and the technologies, industries, and sociocultural phenomena that enable it. He’s also a native Tucsonan, and in his spare time he plays the double bass.
Metacognition is the process of becoming aware of and regulating your own thinking. It is, quite literally, thinking about thinking. Metacognition is a critical part of the learning process because when we understand our thought processes, we can be active in refining them.
