Direct realism Indirect realism Idealism
External Mind independent Mind independent Mind dependent
world
Perception Direct Indirect (via sense data) Direct
method
philosophe BLANK Locke, Russell Berkely
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Problems Illusion Sense data vs Role of God
Hallucination mind Solipsism
Perceptual variation independent Hallucination
Time lag objects Illusion
Veil of
perception
Direct realism is the view that
The external world exists independently to the mind
And we perceive the world directly
So what you see is what you get
When you look at and perceive a tree you are directly perceiving a tree that exists out there in the
world. You are also perceiving its properties
Mind independent objects are objects that exist with no connection to the mind
And then there are mind dependent objects
Russel says that direct realism is flawed and there is a problem due to perceptual variation
Russel argues that when I stand on one side of the room, a shiny wooden may have a tiny white spo t
where the light is shining on it however for some standing on the other side of the room there may
be no white spot.
But the white spot is either there or it isn’t it cant be both so at lest one of us is perceiving the table
directly as it is
Russel also talks about the shape of the table. Form directly overhead, it may appear rectangular. But
a few metres away it may look kite shaped again it cant be good shapes
These examples of realism highlight our differences in our perception of the table and the table itself.
However according to direct realism, there should be no such difference between perception and
reality.
However you could counter counter this with relational properties.
A relational property is one that varies in relation to something else. For example being tom the
north or south of something or being to the left or right of something are all real and mind
independent properties that something can have- but they vary relative to other objects. London has
the mind independent property of being south of Leeds for example but its not like London has the
properties of southness relative to all perceivers- If your in Spain then London is north of you.
Applying this to perception we could say that the table has the mind independent relational property
of appearing kite shaped depending on the perceiver whilst at the same time having the mind
independent relational property of appearing square shaped to other perceivers. the table has both
these mind independent properties but which one you shall perceive will vary depending on where
you are.
Simplified the object does not change but the perceiver does and thus the perceived property.
However, an argument from illusion is that if you remember direct realism says that we perceive the
external world is directly as it is.
But if this is true how is it that reality can be different to our perception of it
For example when a pencil is placed in a glass of water it can look crooked but its not really crooked
For example when someone moves a pencil up and down it can look like its wobbling but its not the
pencil is solid
If your dizzy the world is shaking but it isn’t really.
Like the response to perceptual variation the direct realist could reply that the pencil has the
relational property of looking crooked to certain perceivers even though it isn’t really crooked
however this argument doesn’t explain hallucination.
Argument for hallucination
This is the more extreme argument for illusion
Direct realism says that we perceive something we are perceiving something in the external world
But during hallucination ns perhaps from being ill or drugs or mental health we can perceive things
that aren’t even there
So, what is causing these perceptions? It can’t be the external world- at least not directly- because
there is no object being perceived at all.
A counter to this is that all the objects are mind dependent
The time lag argument
The sun is a 149 million 6 hundred thousand kms from earth
And light travels faster
it takes light from the sun 8 minutes to reach earth so because of this is not a direct property
because if the sun exploded it would take 8 mins to get here
an argument against the time lag is that we confuse what we perceive with how we perceive it
