Could a concept be constructed on the way a person would construct and impose their thoughts or is it dependent on sensory experience? Could it be both, and if so which is more influential?
The way a person’s concept is constructed/developed I feel is highly influenced by their thoughts and is just as equally validated by sensory experiences. Depending though on the person, it would determine which aspect is more influential when they apply it to their concept of reality. For instance, Einstein it was probably more reliant within his thoughts, while the man walking down the street both are pretty equal in his idea of reality, but for the Amazonian tribe they rely more on their senses of what is around them to determine reality (this is hard to gauge though, because their beliefs and knowledge are radically different than ours).
It goes to show then that our lifestyles present obstacles with our reality. This is because they reflect what we will experience and how we think. At the core we are all human though, so we all have the ability to understand and experience things similarly (although not the same). This is dependent on innumerable factors, but the strongest would probably rely on how we define reality. An example in how we define reality can be shown by how scholastic monks of the dark ages viewed the world. They were the people with the most knowledge in Europe at the time, but they saw roses in terms of symbolic ideas which resinated through God’s ideal plan. The color red from the petals for example, was reflective of the blood of Christ and other numerous Biblical insights became apparent in their concepts of things. These connotations originate from their idea that God created it all. This is just one example of how a belief in how reality works can effect how we judge our senses and thoughts in all things.
Most Americans today seem to be very strong realists. This is apparent in their love of material goods. I used to be in a similar view, wanting more and more, but as I've been in college I've been wanting less and less. This is because my view of reality has been changing by many forces. This is getting off topic though. Essentially, both sensory experience and thoughts produce our view of reality, but what swings us to what is more important/influential is a matter of opinion (that would stem from our knowledge of our thoughts and sensory experience) and lifestyle.
I think you bring up a good point about how our personal beliefs ultimately shape our views on reality. I think the example you used about interpreting sense data as evidence of God was pretty accurate. As we discussed earlier this week we interpret data in addition to simply perceiving it, we impose a particular conclusion on what we are seeing based on what we already know or choose to believe in.
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