direct realism Flashcards
what is meant direct realism ?
Direct Realism is the Philosophy that “The immediate objects of perception are mind-independent objects and their properties.”
what is meant by direct
perceptions if the external world are direct and unmediated. perception and the the perception of the object are identical.
what is sensus communis ?
devised by thomas reid
sensus communis a.k.a common sense is built to justify our belief that us an external world and eveything is actually there
an example of this would be i see the chair is red because i see its red
a quote for this would be-‘ theres an external world whos laws do not change’
what is ockhams razor ?
the simplest answer is most often the correct one
what is meant by the term sceptisicim ?
doubting knowledge
what are the strengths of direct realism ?
- if the properties are not in the object themsleves then where are they ?
- russell refers to this as sense data- were unable to locate these anywhere else so they must be in the object.
- it makes sense to say that all the properties are in the object as otherewise theyd be in our sense data which is fallible- can be wrong.
- immediate awareness of the mind-independant relaity is important because otherwise we could doubt everything we know. therefore direct realism avoids sceptisicm.- ockhams razor.
what is the argument of illusion againt direct realism ?
the argument of illusion says that we dont directly perceive objects because of the obvious differences between our perception and reality. This is shown through the example of a straw in water, as the straw appears bent but the property is not bent, and therefore shows how our perception is indirect/ mediated.
what would direct realists say in reponse to the argument of illusions ?
they would say that the pencil has relational properties of looking croocked to certian percievers, even if its not actually croocked.
what is russels argument of perceptial variation.
russells book- problems with philosophy.
- asks the reader what knowledge they believe beyound reasonable doubt.
- walking around the table he notices that the table shifts colours looks different to him as the perciever.
- russell regesters doubt- what is the rel colour ?
- much like the colour, the texture is also ambigious- to the naked eye it looks smooth but aided with the microsope looks mountainous.
- thus showing the lack of trust we should have in our senses- our perceptions must be mediated becuase what i am experincing cannot be the table itslef or else my experinces would be consistant.
what are the similarities between the argument of illusion and perceptual variation.
both show that our perceptions are mediated.- russles quote
Both are about how immediate perceptions can be decieved.
In both cases, the problem can be scientifically explained e.g the thing thats mediating our perceptions is photons, light in the external world effecting our vision.
what are the differences between the argument of illusion and perceotial variation
- perceptual variation is voluntary and illusions are non voluntary
- illusions is the brain getting tricked, whereas the argument of perceptual variation only the senses are being affected. because the senses are limited.
- in perceptial variation the objects exsist mind independently, howver in some illusions, the whole illusion could be imagined, and require no. mind indpendendent object.
what is the criticism of time lag against direct realism ?
theres a gap between any event in the world and our perception of it.
in time lag argument, you cant be aware of the external, mind independent object directly. your perception must be mediated, therefore the quality of the object must exsist seperatley from the object itself.
repsonse/ counter argument, philosophical/ scientific direct realism.
philosophical/ scientific direct realism justifies the argument from illusions, perceptual variation and time lag and objectively explaining how they occur, thus making the error not to be in our perception but in the external world. Reid argues that in these cases what happens in the world is exactly what would expect to happen.
what is the criticism of Philosophical direct realism- argument from hallucination
- hallucinations are non veridcal experiences that are phenominalogically the same as veridical ones.
- this is a problem for Philosophical because hallucinations are definatley a fault in the percprtion e.g internal mind dependent rather than external mind independent. Unlike illusions/ perecption variations they cant be explained with refrence to the external world.
- we cant step out of our skins- davidson, to check if we are hallucinating.
what is the premise argument for hallucinations.
- In a hallucination, i directly percieve an object of perception (e.g a pink elephant) this is an unmediated object of perception.
- when i hallucinate, there is no physical object of my perception ( e.g the pink elephant i perceive isnt a physical pink elephant)
- therefore, the object i directly percieve in a hallucination isnt a physical object
- therefore, direct realism as defined above is false.
