Russell Flashcards
C1) what is “sense data”
What we are immediately aware of
C1) What is “sensation”
The experience of being immediately aware
Briefly summarise C1
1) Table analogy - the “real” properties of the table are not what we see, “it is something inferred from what we see”
2) Is there a real table, and if so what sort of object is it?
3) How does the physical table relate to our sense data?
4) Discusses idealism, and how one thing all philosophers agree is there is a real table (whether its mind dependent or not)
C2) Why must Russell prove existence of matter
We fall into POOM - “we alone exist” is all we could know
C2) What is the dining table analogy for
People around a table would see something different, however it would be similar - publicly neutral objects
C2) Argument from simplicity
He bought a table from a man, not because he bought his sense data, but the confident expectation that it would be similar to his. However, we cannot rely on external peoples testimony (POOM)
C2) Russell’s Cat
If a cat were merely a collection of sense data, it would be absurd to say it grew hungry while not existing while I did not perceive it
C2) Okham’s razor
When we observe humans speaking, it is hard to imagine there is no intention behind their words - much the same is for objects - simpler/natural to assume matter exists
C2) Argument from instinctive belief
We find it natural to believe in existence because we have a deep instinctive belief it is real
C3) Why is the scientific view of natural phenomena misleading?
Because they describe heat, light, sound as “motion waves” but what we experience is something different, something non-physical which a blind man can not understand.
Light, colour, sound therefore are “absent from the scientific world of matter”. This is the same for space - science and experience of space are distinct
C3) Argument from relativity
Physical objects can cause our sensations, and they must fill a scientific space. We therefore have an experience of objects because we inhabit space close to the object - physical objects have spatial relations which correspond to our experience
C3) What can we know about physical space?
We only know it in terms of correspondence to sense data, not in itself - “we cannot know the nature of the terms between which the relations hold”
C3) What does Russell conclude about sense data and physical objects?
There is a relation of correspondence between sense data and physical objects which allows us to have a perception of it - this however does not tell us anything about the physical - Russell’s representative realism
C4) What are Russell’s criticisms of Berkeley
1) Confusion in “idea” - Berkeley only has the right to say the thought of the tree must be in our mind, but not the actual tree
2) Apprehended and apprehension - Berkeley refers to them both as ideas and therefore interchanges the two, however this is a false connection, they are distinct
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