Man and change [antikvár]

Different Approaches to the Study of People Different people often see the same thing quite differently. The picture on the opposite page was taken in a country in Europe. How would you describe that picture? Three different observers might describe it in three different ways. One might call it a view of the remains of an old castle. Another might see it as a picture of rolling grain fields. Still a third observer might say that the picture shows a woman working in a grain field in an old-fashioned way. Each of those descriptions would be right. The picture does show all those things. Maybe it shows some other things, too. Why do different observers sometimes describe the same thing so differently? It is partly because what an observer sees depends on what he is looking for. People look for what they think is important. Someone interested in history or trained as a historian would think that history is important. Such a person would be likely to see this picture as a view of old ruins. Someone interested in geography would look at it as an example of grain land. And an observer who is primarily concerned with how people live and work today would note that it shows a woman stacking grain by hand. Each of these descriptions is really an interpretation, an explanation of what is important. These different interpretations result from the observers' different interests.