This content contains a summary/notes of Direct Realism, is extracted from different sources and it includes everthing that is to know for Direct Realism.
AQA philosophy, Epistemology. Knowldge from perception
Direct realism is the idea that the meaning the view that the external world exists
immediate objects of perceptions independently of the mind. Therefore we perceive
are mind-independent objects the external world directly.
and their properties
There are two elements in perception;
- THE PERCEIVERS AND
- THE OBJECT PERCEIVED
This means that there is no third thing mediating between the person who perceives
and the physical object they perceive,
So Direct Realism rejects the indirect realist notion of ‘sense data’.
- If there is nothing mediating between persevere and the object
perceived
- Then we perceive physical objects 'immediately’
- So we are directly aware of the objects themselves
- As they are mind-independent, meaning exist outside of the mind
Our sense detect properties of these object which exist in the world
- It is not just the object that exist independently of the perceiver’s mind
- It is also the properties of the objects that are mind-independent
And objects retain these properties when unperceived
- Tree falls in the forest
- No one to hear
- It still make a sound
, DIRECT REALISM:
Avoid scepticism as it gives a clear account of how it is that we come to have
knowledge of the world because we know our senses provide immediate access to its
true nature.
It has explanatory power;
- for if it is true that i am directly aware of physical reality and its
properties
- This explain why I am able to execute a range of practical action [finding
food to survive]
It explain why I perceived what I do
- I sees the tree as green
- Because the tree is green
My perception of the tree is regular and predictable precisely because there exists a
real tree beyond my mind which causes my perception of it
- I have no control over what is see when i open my eyes because they
are mind-independent objects causing me to perceive
Direct realism explains why we agree about what we perceive and is in tune
with our sense that we occupy the same universe as everyone else.
However one issue with direct realism is from illusion.
P1 When subject to an illusion an object appears to a perceiver to have a particular
property (e.g. a straw appears to be bent).
P2 The perceiver is directly aware of this apparent property (e.g. of a bent-looking
straw).
P3 But the object doesn’t have this property in reality (e.g. the real straw is not
bent).
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