Direct Realism Flashcards
What is direct realism?
It is the view that:
1. The external world exists independently of the mind (hence, realism)
2. And we perceive the external world directly (hence, direct)
(What you see is what you get)
For instance, when you look at a tree, you are directly perceiving a tree that exists ‘out there’ in the world. You are also perceiving properties, such as size, shape etc.
What is the argument from perceptual variation (Russel)?
When I see a table, I might see a white spot where the light is shining on it, but to someone standing on the other side of the room, there may be no white spot.
However the white spot is either there or not — it CAN’T be both. So one of us is not perceiving table directly as it is.
Another example would be looking at a table’s shape form different angles
What is the possible response to Russel’s argument from perceptual variation?
The concept of relational properties. For example, London has the property (mind-independent) of being south to Manchester, but it’s not like it has a property of ‘southness’ to all perceivers — if you are in Spain, then London is north of you.
Same with objects — they themselves don’t change, but the perceiver does — and thus the perceived properties of the object change.
The intrinsic properties of the table such as shape and size interact with external factors like light and distance etc. therefore creating relational properties — white spot on a table
What is the argument from illusion?
For example, when a pencil is placed in a glass of water, it can looked crooked, but it really isn’t.
If direct realism is true, the external world would exactly as we perceive it. However, in case of illusions, there is an obvious difference between our perception and reality.
What is the argument from hallucination?
During hallucinations, perhaps as a result of taking drugs, we perceive things that aren’t even there. For example, i might perceive a green goblin on my sofas but there is clearly no goblin there in mind-independent reality.
So what is causing these perceptions? Because it can’t be a mind-independent goblin because no such thing exits in reality
Response to an argument from hallucination?
A direct realist might argue that hallucination are not perceptions at all, they are imaginations. Ordinarily, wha we perceive are mind-independent objects. But in cases of hallucination, we confuse imagination for perception — a bit like a dream (you wouldn’t call a dream perception). So just because if this, you can’t claim that ordinary perceptions are not mind-independent objects.
What is a time-lag argument?
Igor instance, it takes 8 minutes for light to reach earth from sun, meaning that we don’t see sun as it is right now, we see it as it was 8 minutes ago. So you are not perceiving it directly.
Or a star that is hundreds of light years away from earth, if it died, we wouldn’t know it straight away, so direct realism is false, because it would be wrong to say that the star is still there, it wouldn’t be true.
What is a response to time-lag argument?
A direct realist might argue that you are still perceiving the sun directly. It’s just the sun as it was 8 minutes ago, but it is still a direct perception.
