Skip to main content
Log in

Metaphysical realism as a pre-condition of visual perception

  • Published:
Biology and Philosophy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper I present a transcendental argument based on the findings of cognitive psychology and neurophysiology which invites two conclusions: First and foremost, that a pre-condition of visual perception itself is precisely what the Aristotelian and other commonsense realists maintain, namely, the independent existence of a featured, or pre-packaged world; second, this finding, combined with other reflections, suggests that, contra McDowell and other neo-Kantians, human beings have access to “things as they are in the world” via non-projective perception. These two conclusions taken together form the basis of “Aristotelian” metaphysical realism and a refutation of the neo-Kantian “two-factor” approach to perception.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aristotle: 1941, 'De Anima and Nicomachean Ethics', in McKeon (ed.), The Basic Works of Aristotle, Random House, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong D.M.: 1961, Perception and the Physical World, Routledge & Kegan Paul, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Austin J.L.: 1964, Sense and Sensibilia, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Avant L.L.: 1965, 'Vision in the Ganzfeld', Psychological Bulletin 64, 246–258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barlow H.B.: 1953, 'Summation and Inhibition in the Frog's Retina', Journal of Physiology 119, 69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barlow H.B.: 1958, 'Temporal and Spatial Summation in Human Vision at Different Background Intensities', Journal of Physiology 141, 337.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barlow H.B. and Levick W.R.: 1965, 'The mechanism of directionally sensitive units in the rabbit's retina', Journal of Physiology 178, 477.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berkeley G.: 1960, A New Theory of Vision, Dent & Sons Ltd.

  • Blakemore C.: 1974, 'Reversal of the Physiological Effects of Monocular Deprivation in Kittens', Journal of Physiology 237, 195.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blakemore C.: 1978, 'The Physiological Effects of Monocular Deprivation and Their Reversal in the Monkey's Visual Cortex', Journal of Physiology 282, 223.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boghossian P. and Vellemar J.D.: 1991, 'Physicalist Theories of Colour', Philosophical Review 100, 67–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boulter S.: 1997, 'Putnam's “Home Coming”', Philosophy 7(282), 595–601.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boulter S.: 2002, 'Hume on Induction: Genuine Problem or Theology's Trojan Horse?', Philosophy 77, 67–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bower T.G.R.: 1974, 'The Evolution of Sensory Systems', in MacLeod and Pick (eds.), Perception: Essays in Honour of James J. Gibson, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruce V. and Green P.R.: 1990, Perception, Physiology and Ecology, Lawrence Erlbaum, New Jersey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen W.: 1957, 'Spatial and Textural Characteristics of the Ganzfeld', American Journal of Psychology 70, 403–410.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deacon T. and Feyerabend P.: 1999, 'Language Evolution and Neuromechanics', in Bechtel and Graham (eds.), A Companion to Cognitive Science, Blackwell, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Devitt M.: 1997, Realism and Truth, Princton University Press, Princton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dretske F.: 1969, Seeing and Knowing, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dretske F.: 1999, Knowledge and the Flow of Information, CSLI Publications, United States.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dretske F.: 2002, 'Conscious Experience', in NoË and Thompson (eds.), Vision and Mind, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feyerabend P.: 1991, Against Method, Verso, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson J.J.: 1967, 'New Reasons for Realism', Synthese 17, 162–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson J.J.: 1979, The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, Houghton Mifflin, Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson J.J.: 1982, 'A History of the Ideas Behind Ecological Optics', in Reed (ed.), Reasons for Realism, Erlbaum, New Jersey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson J.J. and Gibson E.: 1982, 'Perceptual Learning: Differentiation or Enrichment?', in Reed and Jones (eds.), Reasons for Realism, Erlbaum, New Jersey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson J.J. and Waddell: 1952, 'Homogenous Retinal Stimulation and Visual Perception', American Journal of Psychology 65, 263–370.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould S.J. and Lewontin R.: 1979, 'The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptionist Programme', in Smith and Holliday (eds.), The Evolution of Adaptation by Natural Selection, Royal Society, London, pp.147–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grice P.: 1989, Studies in the Way of Words, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guttenplan S.: 1975, Mind and Language, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hatfield G. and Epstein W.: 1979, 'The Sensory Core and the Medieval Foundations of Early Modern Perceptual Theory', Isis 70(253), 363–384.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilbert D.R.: 1987, Color and Color Perception: A Study in Anthropocentric Realism, CSLI, Standford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hochberg J. Triebel W. and Seaman G.: 1951, 'Color Adaptation under Conditions of Homogenous Visual Stimulation (Ganzfeld)', Journal of Experimental Psychology 41, 153–159.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubel D.H.: 1988, Eye, Brian, and Vision, Scientific American Library, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ittelson W.H.: 1960, Visual Space Perception, Springer, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson M.: 1992, 'How to Speak of the Colors', Philosophical Studies 68, 221–263.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kant I.: 1965, Critique of Pure Reason. Translation by Norman Kemp Smith, St Martin's Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuffler S.: 1953, 'Discharge Patterns and Functional Organisation of Mammalian Retina', Journal of Neurophysiology 16, 37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn T.: 1970, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mackay D.: 1991, Behind the Eye, Blackwell, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marr D.: 1996, Vision: A Computational Investigation into the Human representation and Processing of Visual Information, Freeman, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDowell J.: 1994a, Mind and World, Harvard University Press.

  • McDowell J.: 1994b, 'The Content of Perceptual Experience', The Philosophical Quarterly 44, 175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Metzger W.: 1953, Gesetze des Sehens, W. Kramer, Frankfurt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Metzger W.: 1974, 'Can the Subject Create His World?', in MacLeod and Pick (eds.), Perception: Essays in Honour of James J. Gibson, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, pp. 62–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milner A. and Goodale M.: 1998, The Visual Srain in Action, Oxford Psychology Series, No. 27, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell D.E.: 1988, 'The Extent of Visual Recovery from Early Monocular or Binocular Deprivation in Kittens', Journal of Physiology 395, 639.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcus R.B.: 1993, Modalities, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Natsoulas T.: 1991, '“Why Do Things Look as They Do?”. Some Gibsonian answers to Koffka's question', Philosophical Psychology 4, 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Putnam H.: 1981, Reason, Truth and History, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Putnam H.: 1994, Words and Life, Harvard University Press.

  • Rauschecker J. and Singer W.: 1981, 'Visual Deprivation, Stripe Rearing and Hebb Synapses', Journal of Physiology 310, 215.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roitblat H.: 1999, 'Animal Cognition', in Bechtel and Graham (eds.), A Companion to Cognitive Science, Blackwell, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • St. Thomas Aquinas: 1963, Summa Theologiae, Blackfriars, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Searle J.: 1999, The Rediscovery of the Mind, MIT Press, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sellars W.: 1956, 'Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind', in Feigl and Scriven (eds.), Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 1, University of Minnesota Press, pp. 251–328.

  • Smart J.J.C.: 1975, 'On Some Criticisms of a Physicalist Theory of Colors', in Cheng (ed.), Philosophical Aspects of the Mind/Body Problem, pp. 54–63.

  • Turvey M., Shaw R., Reed E. and Mace W.M.: 1981, 'Ecological Laws of Perceiving and Action: In Reply to Fodor and Pylyshyn', Cognition 9, 241 and 244.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vision G.: 1998, 'Perceptual Content', Philosophy 73(285), 395–427.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wachtershauser G.: 1987, 'Light and Life: The Nutritional Origins of Sensory Perception', in Radnitzky and Bartley (eds.), Evolutionary Epistemology, Rationality and the Sociology of Knowledge, Open Court, La Salle, pp. 121–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warrington E.K. and Taylor A.M.: 1973, 'The Contribution of the Right Parietal Lobe to Object Recognition', Cortex 9, 152–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • Werblin F.S. and Dowling J.E.: 1969, 'Organization of the Retina of the Mudpuppy: Intracellular Recording', Journal of Neurophysiology 32, 339.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whorf B.: 1956, Language, Thought and Reality, Carroll (ed.), MIT Press.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Boulter, S.J. Metaphysical realism as a pre-condition of visual perception. Biology & Philosophy 19, 243–261 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:BIPH.0000024405.82013.34

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:BIPH.0000024405.82013.34

Navigation