Perception of Reality

Perception of Reality

1. Direct (naive) Realism

   • Motto is 'what you see is what you get'
     • Common sense view
   • Appears as what our senses tell us
     • We perceive objects directly
       • Unmediated
     • When we leave a room, the objects continue to obey the laws of physics and retain their properties
       • All objects are composed of matter, they occupy space and have properties such as size, shape, texture, smell, taste and colour
       • Aka. Does a tree make a sound when it falls if no one is around? The direct realists answer is Yes.
     • The object exists independently of our mind: realism
     • The object causes my perceptual experience
   • Criticisms of Direct Realism
     • Time Lag Argument
       • There is a time lag between my perception of an object and the object actually having the properties I perceive it to possess
         • Response
           • There is a confusion between the definition of immediate
             • Immediate 1. without delay
             • Immediate 2. direct, without anything between
             • Response
               • The critic could argue that because of light waves and sound waves we do not necessarily perceive the object
                 • Response
                   • This argument confuses HOW we perceive something directly with the nature of directness.
                   • It fails to recognize the difference between HOW we perceive and WHAT we perceive
     • Perceptual Relativity
       • When we alter our perception of an object, we alter our perceptual experience of the object
         • Aka. Russell's Table: It may look different shades of brown because of the light but in reality it is one shade of brown
       • There are variations in our perceptions without there being corrosponding changes in the objects we are perceiving
         • The appearance of the object and the reality are different. What we are immediately aware of in perception is not exactly the same as what exists independently of our minds
           • N.B And we know it exists independently of our minds as objects of our perception existed before we came into existence
           • Therefore, we do not perceive physical objects directly
     • Hallucinations and Illusions
       • Hallucinations: when we perceive something that is not there
       • Illusions: when something appears differently from how it is
       • Both illusions and hallucinations are examples of NON VERIDICAL experiences
         • This creates a sceptical worry! Oh noes, not a sceptical worry
           • Oh yes! A sceptical worry. MWHAHAHAHA!!!
             • HOW CAN A DIRECT REALIST EXPLAIN THE INDISTINGUISHABILITY BETWEEN VERIDICAL AND NON VERIDICAL EXPERIENCES??
             • HOW CAN THE DIRECT REALIST EXPLAIN ERROR?
   • I open my eyes and have a visual experience. The direct realist says that the world outside 'directly' fixes the character of your visual experience
     • Clay Comparison
       • Dont bother using in exam. This is a COMPARISON, an aid to help you understand not an explanation.
       • I press my hand into soft clay
         • The clay receives my hand directly
           • The hand fixes the character of the impression
             • The hand is the immediate object of reception
               • Perception = reception
                 • The world impresses itself on my mind same as my hand fixes itself directly onto the clay
     • Similar to looking directly out the window and getting a direct view of the world

2. Indirect (Representative) Realism

   • Locke
   • Russell
   • Where the direct realist believes that we perceive properties of matter directly and as they are; the indirect realist claims that tehre is a mental component to how an object appears.
     • The sensations produced when we experience the world act as a representation of the real world, creating an image inside our minds.
       • The world causes our perceptual experience.
       • We then use the idea of our sensations to map out the real world and determine what it is like
   • In this the indirect realist hopes to explain sense deception - when the sense impressions do notmatch up with the object
   • Primary and Secondary Qualities
     • Some properties we perceive are actually there whilst others are not
     • Primary qualities continue to exist when the object is unperceive
     • Secondary properties are reliant on being perceived aka. the colour red only exists because theat is our mental perception of the colour
       • The light wave causes the colour red, it is not actually the wave that is red but our perception and translation of the wave
   • Criticisms of Indirect Realism
     • If the world is not directly perceived then how do we know what the world actually looks like?
       • If we are seeing it a is represented, then we aren't seeing it directly
         • Like only seeing movies, and never the outside world
       • Veil of Perception
         • There is a veil between us and the world, meaning we only access out representation of the world and not whats beyond the veil

3. Idealism

   • Berkeley
     • According to Berkeley all that exists are minds and their ideas, sensations and thoughts. We know that our minds exists, 'I think therefore I am', but Berkeley argues that we cannot be completely sure that anything else does.
     • Berkeley deemed that physical objects dont exist independently of the mind but in reality are collections of ideas that we consider sense impressions
     • Berkeley claims that if we think we have a concept but cannot find any experience from which it could have come, we don't really possess this concept
     • Rather than denying there is a physical world, Berkeley is simply denying that they have an existence independent of sensation
   • Unlike the others, idealism claims that the world is mind dependent
   • We know that we perceive various colours and shapes, but to consider that there is a physical world that causes these is to make a big leap of faith
   • Idealists take an anti-realist stance
   • Criticisms of Idealism
     • Hallucinations
       • An initial difficulty with idealism is the inability to distinguish between veridical and non veridical experiences
     • Continued existence
       • Before and after human life, we have proof that things existed
       • Also, when we light a fire and leave, we return to a pile of ashes. It has changed since it was observed suggesting it existed all the while it was unobeserved
     • Regularity of the Universe
       • Idealism cannot explain why there is regularity in the universe
         • aka. when i open a draw with an apple in, i see the apple and close the draw. when i go to open the draw again i expect it to contain an apple
       • Realists have a clear and supportive explanation for the consistency of the universe whereas idealism appears to have no parallel explanation.
         • Response
           • Berkeley claims that there is an all-powerful God who is a permanent perciever of all possible ideas (concepts)
             • By perceiving everything when no human or animal is perceiving it, berkeley's God ensures that physical objects retain the kind of continuous existence that reliast and common sense would claim for them