An empirical refutation of the direct realist theory of perception
Inquiry 40 (4):437-438 (1997)
| Abstract | There are currently two main philosophical theories of perception - Direct Realism and the Representative Theory. The former is supported by most contemporary philosophers, whereas the latter forms the groundwork for most scientific theories in this area. The paper describes a recent experiment involving retinal and cortical rivalry that provides strong empirical evidence that the Direct Realist theory is incorrect. There are of course a large number of related experiments on visual perception that would tend to lead us to the same conclusion, but the experiment described in this paper does so in a singularly direct and straightforward manner. Often the most telling experiments are the simplest | |||||||||
| Keywords | Empiricism Epistemology Object Perception Realism | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,709 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesMoltke S. Gram (1983). Direct Realism: A Study Of Perception. Boston: Nijhoff.
David Kelley (1986). The Evidence Of The Senses: A Realist Theory Of Perception. Baton Rouge: Louisiana St University Press.
Dan D. Crawford (1982). Are There Mental Inferences in Direct Perceptions? American Philosophical Quarterly 19 (January):83-92.
Douglas J. McDermid (2001). What is Direct Perceptual Knowledge? A Fivefold Confusion. Grazer Philosophische Studien 62 (1):1-16.
Michael Huemer (2001). Skepticism and the Veil of Perception. Lanham: Rowman &Amp; Littlefield.
Nicholas Wolterstorff (2006). What Sort of Epistemological Realist Was Thomas Reid? Journal of Scottish Philosophy 4 (2):111-124.
Rebecca Copenhaver (2000). Thomas Reid's Direct Realism. Reid Studies 4 (1):17-34.
Robert G. Hudson (2000). Perceiving Empirical Objects Directly. Erkenntnis 52 (3):357-371.
N. M. L. Nathan (2005). Direct Realism: Proximate Causation and the Missing Object. Acta Analytica 20 (36):3-6.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads98 ( #6,458 of 549,699 )Recent downloads (6 months)2 ( #37,450 of 549,699 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
