Shared perceptual abilities

If you and I are standing next to each other, looking out into an open meadow with one gnarled oak tree in the middle – we can assume that we are having virtually the same perceptual experience. We both see the tree and the meadow. For both of us, the tree would stand out. Even if I don’t say anything, but just point at the tree and shrug my shoulders, you will know that I’m referring to the tree. You do not know this by process of elimination, and you are not guessing. We both notice the single tree – it is the most important feature of the landscape.

It is this shared way of perceiving the world that makes communication possible. If we segmented the world differently – if my meadow and tree looked radically different from yours – we would have nothing to talk about. I would be trapped in my world, and you would be in yours.