Direct Realism

Question 1

What does direct realism claim?

Answer 1

Physical objects exist independently of our minds

We perceive them directly

Question 2

Argument from perceptual variation

Answer 2

1. Different people perceive the same object differently
2. What each person perceives is how the object appears to them
3. The is appearance is mind-dependent sense data
4. Therefore physical objects aren’t perceived directly

Question 3

Argument from illusion and hallucination point

Answer 3

1. We don’t perceive the physical world as it is

2. What we see are sense-data

Question 4

Direct Realism’s reply to argument from perceptual variation

Answer 4

Physical objects have the property of looking a certain way

What you perceive is how a physical object looks

Question 5

What do disjunctivists think?

Answer 5

We can’t generalise that we see sense-data

Hallucination are a different type of mental state to perception

Question 6

Time lag argument

Answer 6

1. What you see is not how the physical world is

2. Light and sound take time to travel to your senses

Question 7

Direct realism reply to time lag argument

Answer 7

Reflect on how we perceive physical objects

Conclude that we see them in the past

Question 8

What is Direct Realism’s point?

Answer 8

Perception is the perception of physical objects and to deny this is very counter-intuitive