Alberto Knox uses the "red tinted glasses" metaphor to illustrate to Sophie how everybody perceives things differently, because our environment alters our judgement. Kant did not fully agree with either the rationalists or the empiricists. Rationalism is the belief that knowledge comes from our mind, and empiricism is the belief that knowledge is acquired from our senses.

Kant combined these two theories and he made a distinction between the thing itself and the thing “for me”. Kant believed that there are clear restrictions to what we know simply because our “red tinted glasses” stop us from seeing what is really there.

I agree with Kant because I think our surroundings alter the way we see things. What we believe to be right and wrong are usually constructs of the society that we live in. An example of this is that a Hindu raised in a Hindu society would believe that eating beef is wrong, because the Hindu society has shaped their mind to believe that. However, a non-Hindu would have no problem eating beef, as they would have been raised in a society where eating beef is acceptable.

Our senses can be mislead by many things, including our religion, cultural background, family, childhood and education, which means that everyone potentially has a different view of the world. This means that because of our surroundings, we can never see the world for what it really is.

To conclude, I believe that the “red tinted glasses” is a metaphor to show our limitations of portraying the world. We all wear different glasses and so in a way we create our own reality.