Direct Realism Flashcards
What does Russell believe about what we perceive?
What we perceive isn’t the same as what exists out there
What example did Russell use to counter direct realism and how?
A shiny brown table doesn’t look the same colour all over
What is there a distinction between when looking at a brown table?
An appearance/reality distinction
What did Russell conclude from the brown table example?
What we perceive immediately is not the physical objects and its properties
Give an example of how our perception varies
Desk remains rectangular, even the way it looks to me changes when viewed from different angles
What are the properties a physical object have not identical to?
The properties the physical object appears to have
So what we are immediately aware of in perception is not the same as?
What exists independently of our minds
What is sense-data?
The content of my sensation appearances
What are sense-data distinct from?
Physical objects
What is sense-data’s objection to direct realism?
We directly perceive sense-data not physical objects.
When we see the actual colour of the table what else do we see?
The table and its properties
How can we see the actual colour of the table?
Under normal conditions and by a normal observer.
How does the table stay the same shape?
It is rectangular, even if it doesn’t always look rectangualr
How is looking obtuse a relational property ?
A rectangular desk can have this in relation to being perceived.
What don’t we need to think of to explain what we perceive?
Sense-data.
What is a relation property?
A property that an object has in relation to being perceived.
In an illusion what does a physical object not have
Property F
What does have the property F in an illusion?
Something mental, a sense-datum
In an illusion what do we perceive immediately?
Sense-data, before physical objects
What can illusion be subjectively indistinguishable from?
Veridical perception
So in all cases what do we see?
Sense data and not physical objects immediately
The pencil is not crooked, what does it have the property of?
Looking crooked
We experience the properties physical objects have that don’y relate to what?
How they are perceived
What do we perceive in a hallucination?
Something having property F
What don’t we perceive at all?
Physical objects.
So what do we actually perceive?
Sense-data
What do we see sense-data in?
Hallucinations and veridical perception
So what do we see immediately?
Sense-data
What is the disjunctive theory of perception?
Something looks a certain way, then 2 different things is going on
What are the 2 options?
I directly perceive a mind independent physical object FIt appears as if there is something that is F, but there is nothing that is F
What are 2 different kinds of mental state?
Hallucination and veridical perception
What do we rather do in an illusion rather than perceive it?
Imagine it
How do light waves reach us?
Through time
So what can we perceive?
Something after is ceases to exist
What aren’t we perceiving directly?
Physical objects.
What should we really say?
We perceive physical objects indirectly and the physical medium directly.
What is there a confusion between?
What we perceive and how we perceive.
What does the time-lag argument show?
We perceive the past.
What does our perceptual experience present?
What we perceive as mind-independent objects
What doesn’t this prove, but makes a claim highly intuitive?
We perceive mind-independent objects
What holds onto this basic intuition?
Direct Realism.
