Concept
Philosophy of perception
Overview
The philosophy of perception is concerned with the nature of perceptual experience and the status of perceptual data, in particular how they relate to beliefs about, or knowledge of, the world. Any explicit account of perception requires a commitment to one of a variety of ontological or metaphysical views. Philosophers distinguish internalist accounts, which assume that perceptions of objects, and knowledge or beliefs about them, are aspects of an individual's mind, and externalist accounts, which state that they constitute real aspects of the world external to the individual. The position of naïve realism—the 'everyday' impression of physical objects constituting what is perceived—is to some extent contradicted by the occurrence of perceptual illusions and hallucinations and the relativity of perceptual experience as well as certain insights in science. Realist conceptions include phenomenalism and direct and indirect realism. Anti-realist conceptions include idealism and skepticism. Recent philosophical works have expanded on the philosophical features of perception by going beyond the single paradigm of vision (for instance, by investigating the uniqueness of olfaction).
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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It is allowed by Locke and others that all those qualities of matter which are called _secondary_ cannot be wholly material, and that living mind is indispensable for _their_ realisation in nature; but Locke and the rest argue, that this is not so with the qualities which they call _primary_, and which they regard as of the essence of matter. Colours, sounds, tastes, smells are all allowed to be not wholly material…
George Berkeley, The Works of George Berkeley. Vol. 1 of 4
States what Philosophy of perception is; the author is tied to Philosophy of perception in the knowledge graph.
Thus it appears, that the _belief_ or _assent_, which always attends the memory and senses, is nothing but the vivacity of those perceptions they present; and that this alone distinguishes them from the imagination. To believe is in this case to feel an immediate impression of the senses, or a repetition of that impression in the memory. 'Tis merely the force and liveliness of the perception, which constitutes the…
David Hume, Philosophical Works, v. 1
The author is tied to Philosophy of perception in the knowledge graph.
But these lead you to believe that the very perception or sensible image is the external object. Do you disclaim this principle, in order to embrace a more rational opinion, that the perceptions are only representations of something external? You here depart from your natural propensities and more obvious sentiments; and yet are not able to satisfy your reason, which can never find any convincing argument from…
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
The author is tied to Philosophy of perception in the knowledge graph.
Philosophers who discussed Philosophy of perception
- Leucippus
- Tim Crane
- H. H. Price
- Thomas Reid
- Wilfrid Sellars
- Roderick Chisholm
- Hilary Putnam
- Howard Robinson
- Frank Sibley (philosopher)
- Paul Snowdon
Related ideas
- Gilbert Ryle
- Belief
- Cognition
- George Berkeley
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- Philosophical realism
- Idealism
- John Locke
- Ibn al-Haytham
- Nicolas Malebranche
- Metaphysics
- Philosophical skepticism
- Qualia
- Anti-realism
- Ontology
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging
- Ghost in the machine
- Postmodernism
- Knowledge
- Perception
- Sense data
- Thomas Reid
- Information processing (psychology)
- Visual cortex
Opposing perspectives
Place in the tradition
Part of Analytic philosophy.