The more you know about something, the more you see while beholding it.

One can look at a tree and say simply, This is a tree. Or one can look at it while knowing things about it and see – xylem and phloem, annual rings, photosynthesis – and a lot more. The object has not changed between one and the other. What has changed is the knowledge. And with greater knowledge we see a greater understanding.

Immanuel Kant said that the appearance (the “phenomenal”) and the object in itself (the “noumenal”) are different from one another. The claim is that senses through which the object is discerned are imperfect, and that the phenomenal and the noumenal differ from one another. Ayn Rand referred to Kant as the most evil person that ever lived, as he inveighed against empiricism. In fact there is a need both for empiricism and Kant. The phenomenal and the noumenal are the same in dealing with natural world; and an orange is an orange both in appearance and essence. Whereas with people, the phenomenal and the noumenal differ; and what I see of the next person visually has no relation to what the person is in his appearance. I need to use my mind to see the next person's character, and it once again has no relation to what the next person looks like.

So in dealing with something as complex as human behavior, the full picture is arrived at through greater knowledge. And through greater knowledge one sees more. Similarly if I were to travel to Bali, I would get a fuller picture if before my travelling I find out more about Bali. In both cases I would get the same sensory impression. Only in one case one finds out more about what to do with that sensory impression and in the other case one does not.

So the more you know, the more you see. And that can be seen in any number of situations.