--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The data that can bear on the…" description: "\"The data that can bear on the confirmation of perceptual hypotheses includes, in the general case, considerably less than the organism may know.\" — Jer..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d4/jerry-fodor-26279_bears_the-data-that-can-bear-on-the-confirmati_1729768.jpg" --- # The data that can bear on the confirmation of perceptual… ![“The data that can bear on the confirmation of perceptual hypotheses includes, in the general case, considerably less than the organism may know.” quote by Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d4/jerry-fodor-26279_bears_the-data-that-can-bear-on-the-confirmati_1729768.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d4/jerry-fodor-26279_bears_the-data-that-can-bear-on-the-confirmati_1729768.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d4/jerry-fodor-26279_bears_the-data-that-can-bear-on-the-confirmati_1729768.jpg) > “The data that can bear on the confirmation of perceptual hypotheses includes, in the general case, considerably less than the organism may know.” [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He notes that perceptual hypotheses rely on less data than the organism actually knows. **In simple terms:** Perception uses limited data despite extensive knowledge. Key Takeaway Recognize the gap between knowledge and perception. Themes cognition perception knowledge Mood analytical academic thoughtful Type scientific philosophical When to use this quote - psychology research - AI modeling - education design - decision making Key Concepts epistemology information theory Questions to Reflect On - How does this affect learning? - What strategies mitigate perceptual gaps? A Different Perspective Over‑reliance on limited data can lead to errors. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bears/) [Data](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/) [Organisms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organisms/) ## Related quotes > [The physical organism itself then, even as you know it, exists and moves and reacts and influences, and is influenced by, many fields or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-roberts/the-physical-organism-itself-then-even-as-you-know-it-exists-and/) [Jane Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-roberts/) > [The degree of confirmation assigned to any given hypothesis is sensitive to properties of the entire belief system... simplicity, plausibility, and conservatism are properties…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/the-degree-of-confirmation-assigned-to-any-given-hypothesis-is/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) > [Unfortunately, in the field of evolution most explanations are not good. As a matter of fact, they hardly qualify as explanations at all; they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-macbeth/unfortunately-in-the-field-of-evolution-most-explanations-are-not/) [Norman Macbeth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-macbeth/) > [The physicist can never subject an isolated hypothesis to experimental test, but only a whole group of hypotheses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-duhem/the-physicist-can-never-subject-an-isolated-hypothesis-to/) Pierre Duhem > [Better our hypotheses die for our errors than ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/better-our-hypotheses-die-for-our-errors-than-ourselves/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [“At first he found it amusing. He coined a law intended to have the humor of a Parkinson’s law that "The number of rational…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-pirsig/at-first-he-found-it-amusing-he-coined-a-law-intended-to-have-the/) [Robert Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-pirsig/) > [I feign no hypotheses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-newton/i-feign-no-hypotheses/) [Isaac Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-newton/) > [Hypotheses are the scaffolds which are erected in front of a building and removedd when the building is completed. They are indispensable to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/hypotheses-are-the-scaffolds-which-are-erected-in-front-of-a-building/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [“Philosophy, like science, is only a collection of hypotheses, introduced for the usefulness of the ensemble, or for economy of thought.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/philosophy-like-science-is-only-a-collection-of-hypotheses-introduced/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [To rewrite history on the bases of hypotheses which have not materialized is not only a fruitless task, but, in my eyes, meaningless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-monnet/to-rewrite-history-on-the-bases-of-hypotheses-which-have-not/) [Jean Monnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-monnet/) > [We are sorry to confess that biological hypotheses have not yet completely got out of the second phase, and that ghost of ‘vital force’…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-buchner/we-are-sorry-to-confess-that-biological-hypotheses-have-not-yet/) [Ludwig Buchner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-buchner/) > [Hypotheses non fingo. I frame no hypotheses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-newton/hypotheses-non-fingo-i-frame-no-hypotheses/) [Isaac Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-newton/) > [In science, each new result, sometimes quite surprising, heralds a step forward and allows one to discard some hypotheses, even though one or two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-b-prusiner/in-science-each-new-result-sometimes-quite-surprising-heralds-a-step/) [Stanley B. Prusiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-b-prusiner/) > [Whether statistics be an art or a science... or a scientific art, we concern ourselves little. It is the basis of social and political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolphe-quetelet/whether-statistics-be-an-art-or-a-science-or-a-scientific-art-we/) [Adolphe Quetelet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolphe-quetelet/) > [The rules and principles of case law have never been treated as final truths but as working hypotheses, continually retested in those great laboratories…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-n-cardozo/the-rules-and-principles-of-case-law-have-never-been-treated-as-final/) [Benjamin N. Cardozo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-n-cardozo/) ## More by Jerry Fodor > [Faculty Psychology is getting to be respectable again after centuries of hanging around with phrenologists and other dubious types. By faculty psychology I mean,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/faculty-psychology-is-getting-to-be-respectable-again-after-centuries/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) > [...there are special sciences not because of the nature of our epistemic relation to the world, but because of the way the world is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/there-are-special-sciences-not-because-of-the-nature-of-our-epistemic/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) > [...if it isn't literally true that my wanting is causally responsible for my reaching, and my itching is causally responsible for my scratching, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/if-it-isn-t-literally-true-that-my-wanting-is-causally-responsible/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) > [To the best of my recollection, I became a philosopher because my parents wanted me to become a lawyer. It seems to me, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/to-the-best-of-my-recollection-i-became-a-philosopher-because-my/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) > [ Who wins a... competition \[between two traits\] is massively context sensitive. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/who-wins-a-competition-between-two-traits-is-massively-context/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) > [It simply isn't true, for example, that being big is in general better for fitness than being small except when there are effects of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/it-simply-isn-t-true-for-example-that-being-big-is-in-general-better/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) > [On my bad days, I sometimes wonder what philosophers are for.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/on-my-bad-days-i-sometimes-wonder-what-philosophers-are-for/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) > [“Thought about the world is prior to thought about how to change the world. Accordingly, knowing-that is prior to knowing-how. Descartes was right and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/thought-about-the-world-is-prior-to-thought-about-how-to-change-the/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) > [Suppose that the organism is given the problem of determining the analysis of a stimulus at a certain level of representation - e.g., the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/suppose-that-the-organism-is-given-the-problem-of-determining-the/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) > [The theory of natural selection reduces to a banal truth: if a kind of creature flourishes in a kind of situation, then there must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/the-theory-of-natural-selection-reduces-to-a-banal-truth-if-a-kind-of/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) > [The degree of confirmation assigned to any given hypothesis is sensitive to properties of the entire belief system... simplicity, plausibility, and conservatism are properties…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/the-degree-of-confirmation-assigned-to-any-given-hypothesis-is/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) > [Philosophers who pay for their semantics by drawing checks on Darwin are in debt way over their heads.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/philosophers-who-pay-for-their-semantics-by-drawing-checks-on-darwin/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) > [The content of a thought depends on its external relations; on the way that the thought is related to the world, not on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/the-content-of-a-thought-depends-on-its-external-relations-on-the-way/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) > [There are lots of cases where we know more about how the world works than we do about how we know how it works.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/there-are-lots-of-cases-where-we-know-more-about-how-the-world-works/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) > [...monetary exchanges have interesting things in common; Gresham's law, if true, says what one of these interesting things is. But what is interesting about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/monetary-exchanges-have-interesting-things-in-common-gresham-s-law-if/) [Jerry Fodor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) [Explore all 22 Jerry Fodor quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/) ## More Bears quotes > [For not only every democracy, but certainly every republic, bears within itself the seeds of its own destruction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-not-only-every-democracy-but-certainly-every-republic-bears/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [She'd read once that if you ran into a bear in the woods you should avoid eye contact and you shouldn't run away, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-ursu/she-d-read-once-that-if-you-ran-into-a-bear-in-the-woods-you-should/) [Anne Ursu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-ursu/) > [In the movie, the stars above the ship bear no correspondence to any constellations in a real sky. Worse yet, while the heroine bobs...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/in-the-movie-the-stars-above-the-ship-bear-no-correspondence-to-any/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [Television series are like the stock market. There's room for bears and bulls but no room for pigs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-newhart/television-series-are-like-the-stock-market-there-s-room-for-bears/) [Bob Newhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-newhart/) > [The Germans are the most philosophic people in the world, and the greatest smokers: now I trace their philosophy to their smoking. Smoking has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-henry-borrow/the-germans-are-the-most-philosophic-people-in-the-world-and-the/) [George Henry Borrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-henry-borrow/) > [...Gratitude transforms the torment of memory of good things now gone into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/gratitude-transforms-the-torment-of-memory-of-good-things-now-gone/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [You've had a whole lot of experience, but everything is also radically new at each moment, and you have to bring a kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-houston/you-ve-had-a-whole-lot-of-experience-but-everything-is-also-radically/) [Jean Houston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-houston/) > [The rationale which accompanies that imposition of male authority euphemistically referred to as 'the battle of the sexes' bears a certain resemblance to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-millett/the-rationale-which-accompanies-that-imposition-of-male-authority/) [Kate Millett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-millett/) > [Pay no heed to the passing religious vogue. Go back to the grass roots. Open your hearts and search the Scriptures. Bear your cross,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/pay-no-heed-to-the-passing-religious-vogue-go-back-to-the-grass-roots/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [I want you to take a red-hot bath as hot as you can bear it, and just relax your nerves. You can read in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/i-want-you-to-take-a-red-hot-bath-as-hot-as-you-can-bear-it-and-just/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [He sank into the rocking chair, the same one in which Rebecca had sat during the early days of the house to give embroidery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/he-sank-into-the-rocking-chair-the-same-one-in-which-rebecca-had-sat/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [Some things in this world just ain't meant to be, not in the times we want 'em to, and the heart has to hold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-mcbride/some-things-in-this-world-just-ain-t-meant-to-be-not-in-the-times-we/) [James McBride](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-mcbride/) > [And if anyone knows anything about anything," said Bear to himself, "it's Owl who knows something about something," he said, "or my name's not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/and-if-anyone-knows-anything-about-anything-said-bear-to-himself-it-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm totally independent. I don't bear any responsibility to any system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/i-m-totally-independent-i-don-t-bear-any-responsibility-to-any-system/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [I'm supportive of women, absolutely, and it's so gratifying to have girls come up and say, 'I'm really inspired by your guitar playing.' I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-vincent/i-m-supportive-of-women-absolutely-and-it-s-so-gratifying-to-have/) [St. Vincent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-vincent/) [Browse all 4,111 Bears quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bears/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The data that can bear on the confirmation of perceptual hypotheses includes, in the general case, considerably less than the organism may know.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jerry Fodor" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/the-data-that-can-bear-on-the-confirmation-of-perceptual-hypotheses/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bears" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/the-data-that-can-bear-on-the-confirmation-of-perceptual-hypotheses/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d4/jerry-fodor-26279_bears_the-data-that-can-bear-on-the-confirmati_1729768.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d4/jerry-fodor-26279_bears_the-data-that-can-bear-on-the-confirmati_1729768.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d4/jerry-fodor-26279_bears_the-data-that-can-bear-on-the-confirmati_1729768.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The data that can bear on the confirmation of perceptual hypotheses includes, in the general case…” — Jerry Fodor", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jerry Fodor", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-fodor/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The data that can bear on...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/the-data-that-can-bear-on-the-confirmation-of-perceptual-hypotheses/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-fodor/the-data-that-can-bear-on-the-confirmation-of-perceptual-hypotheses/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```