“We see and understand things not as they are but as we are” This claim shows the great influence of our beliefs and experiences on our view of the world. This is because our beliefs and experiences, the things that make us who we are, are an influence on our ways of knowing. Since our ways of knowing are the ways that we form our views and understanding of the world our beliefs and experience indirectly affect our view and understanding. Emotion and Sense perception, in particular, are greatly effected.

    For a greater understanding of this concept we should consider this statement “The needs of the many outway the need of the few”(Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). Assuming that you believe people to be equal this statement is logical. The combined needs of a large number of people must be larger than the needs of a smaller amount of people. Now consider this idea “that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not” (John 11:49-50).If you accept the logic of the first sentence then this situation is also logical. The needs of the many, or the nation to live should outway the needs of the few or in this cases the one to live. However a dilemma occurs when we look at this situation using our emotion rather than our reason. Our emotion cause us to believe that people needs no matter how few should not be ignored and that the majority should not always have its way. Also it causes us to ask in the case of the second quote “How should this person be chosen and who is this “man”" because who ever is chosen to die is being sentenced to death. It also causes us to question whether or not every bodies needs should be considered “equal”.” What if the “few” was a few innocent children and the many were old serial killers? “The way that you answer these questions can greatly affected by our emotions and beliefs. If we view life scared then we may greatly frown upon sentencing somebody to death. If we believe that the elders should sacrifice themselves to protect the young then the old serial killers should die not the child. If we believe that the innocent and pure are more important then those who have sinned then you could consider the child’s life to be more important than those of the two serial killers. If you do not hold these views however you many consider the opposites to be true. As you can see our emotions and beliefs have a great influence on how we view each of the elements involved.