Representative realism
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Representative Theory of Perception, also known as Indirect realism and epistemological dualism, is a philosophical concept. It states that we do not (and can not) perceive the external world directly; instead we know only our ideas or interpretations of objects in the world. However, an indirect realist believes our ideas come from sense data of a real, material, external world (unlike idealists). The doctrine states that in any act of perception, the immediate (direct) object of perception is only a sense-datum that represents an external object.
This immediately raises a question: How well do sense-data represent external objects, properties, and events? Indirect realism creates deep epistemological problems, such as solipsism and the problem of the external world. Nonetheless, Indirect realism has been popular in the history of philosophy and has been developed by many philosophers including Bertrand Russell, Spinoza, Thomas Reid, René Descartes, and John Locke.
Representationalism is one of the key assumptions of cognitivism in psychology.
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[edit] Potential results of representative realism
[edit] Dualism
A problem with representationalism is that if it assumes that something in the brain, described as a homunculus, is viewing the perception, this suggests that some physical effect or phenomenon other than simple data flow and information processing must be involved in perception. This was not an issue for the rationalist philosophers such as Descartes, since dualism held that there is indeed a "homunculus" in the form of the mind. For those who doubt dualism, explaining precisely what it is that sees the representation is problematic. But if representationalism is thought of as an explanation of how we indeed see, then it falls foul of the homunculus fallacy which would suggest that representationalism is either an incomplete or invalid description of perception.
[edit] Skepticism
A further difficulty is that, since we only have knowledge of the representations of our perceptions, how is it possible to show that they resemble in any significant way the objects to which they are supposed to correspond? Any creature with a representation in its brain would need to interact with the objects that are represented to identify them with the representation.
According to this theory, the external world is only to be inferred.
[edit] Reference
A difficulty arises when attempting to explain reference using representationalism.
If I say "I see the Eiffel Tower" at a time when I am indeed looking at the Eiffel Tower, to what does the term "Eiffel Tower" refer? One might wish to say it refers to the Eiffel Tower, but in the representational account we do not really see the tower, presumably the reference is to our sense experience. But this would mean that when I refer to the Eiffel Tower, I am referring to my sense experience; but when you refer to the Tower, you are referring to your sense experience. Therefore when we each refer to the Eiffel Tower, we are not referring to the same thing — an apparent absurdity.
[edit] Bertrand Russell
Representative realism does, unlike naïve realism, take into account sense data (the way in which the object is interpreted, not simply the objective, mathematical object) - this induces the veil of perception wherein we are unsure the table we look at exists due to there being no direct objective proof of its existence. In other words, the table I'm looking at appears to have a particular shape to me, due to my angle of vision, and to have a particular colour due to the way in which the light bounces off it relative to my position, and that appearance differs from the appearance of the table as seen by the person next to me. Each of us sees not the actual table, but an appearance of it which merely represents an actual table out there.
The representative theory of perception states that we do not perceive the external world directly; instead we perceive our personal interpretation of an object by way of sense data. A naïve realist assumes she sees the dog upon perceiving a dog, whereas a representative realist assumes she sees a sensory representation of the dog upon perceiving a dog.
The external world is real and continues to exist unobserved. But we are only aware of it indirectly. Our perception of the external world is mediated by way of sense data such as photons and sound waves. We perceive a representation of reality (not the reality itself); this has been given many names: ideas, sense data, percept or appearance.
Thus representative realism is the idea that our perceptions are directly caused by the intrinsic qualities of objects, and based on these perceptions we can infer things about these objects.
[edit] John Locke
Two 17th century philosopher John Locke most prominently advocated this theory. The term they used was not "sense-datum" but "idea." "Idea" as used in the theory of perception is a technical term, meaning roughly the same thing as sense-datum, and this article does not discuss any differences in meaning that the two terms might have.
John Locke thought objects had two classes of qualities:
- Primary qualities exist even when not perceived and are utterly inseparable from the object. They cannot be removed by either thought or physical action (eg. Mass, mobility, solidity).
- Secondary qualities exist only when being perceived. They do not resemble the qualities of objects that cause them (eg. Colour, smell, taste, shape).
[edit] Criticism
In contemporary philosophy, epistemological dualism has come under sustained attack by philosophers like Wittgenstein (the "private language" problem)and Wilfred Sellars in his "The Myth of the Given".
Indirect realism is argued to be problematical because of Ryle's regress and the apparent need for a homunculus. These problems have led some philosophers to abandon realism and suggest the existence of dualism and others to propose, or suggest through emergentism, that some form of new physics is operating in the brain such as quantum mind, space-time theories of consciousness etc.
[edit] External sources
- ↑ philosophos.com
- Harold I. Brown, "Direct Realism, Indirect Realism, and Epistemology". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 52, No. 2. (Jun., 1992), pp. 341-363.
- McCreery, Charles (2006). "Perception and Hallucination: the Case for Continuity." Philosophical Paper No. 2006-1. Oxford: Oxford Forum. An analysis of empirical arguments for representationalism. Online PDF
- What Do We Perceive and How Do We Perceive It? (PDF file)
- Neurological explanation for paranormal experiences
