The genesis of the awarness of illusions

In this article we presented a tripartite phenomenological analysis of the experience of having undergone an illusion. The first two components have been proposed before. The third is new. The first necessary component is the presence of two perceptionbased beliefs, one that the observer believes is true and the other the observer believes is false. The second necessary component is the observer’s belief that no change has occurred in the source of the illusion. The third component is the observer’s recognition of having been let down by his or her perceptual system, since it suggests two equally valid descriptions for the same object. This differs from what happens the rest of the time when he or she experiences a stable and consistent world. This recognition inevitably gives rise to a succession of two responses: (a) a concern; (b) a test of the robustness of the illusion in an attempt to learn more about the fallibility of one’s encounter with reality.