Indirect realism- 5 mark answers

Explain the difference between primary and secondary qualities

1) define primary

2) define seocndary

the difference- primary qualities are permanent, if you chopped an object into smaller pieces it would still retain its primary qualities of shape,extension, position

secondary quality is seperable from the object- if chopped up, it could lose its secondary qualities

secondary qualities- experiences a physical object makes you go through

primary qualities are part- intrinsic to the object itself (utterly inserperable), regardless of whether somone experieneces it

Explain why, for Locke, extension is a primary quality

1) define primary quality- independent of any observer, don’t need to be percieved to exist, permanent

example- extension, size, postition (chopping up example)

2)define extension and explain

quality of taking up space

locke believes that this a primary quality because, reagrdless of whether someone percieves it or not, it a physical object will take up space.

example- grain of wheat- chopping up a grain of wheat into tiny pieces would still take up space- the appearance is only different.

this means that extension is a quality that you can’t take away from the object- extension is intrinsic to the object.

additionally, it is also measurable- you can measure extension- making it a primary quality

outline one similarity and one difference between direct realism and indirect realism

1) define both

DR- percieve physical objects and their properties directly + mind- independent (exists without perception)

IR- we percieve physical objects and their properties indirectly- immediate objects of percption are mind-dependent objects, which are caused by and represent mind-independent objects

believes that what we percieve in our percption of pysical objects is sense data (mind-dependent representation); however, it is produced by physical objects (mind-independent)

similarity- both believe that mind-independent objects exist- that there is a real physical world outside of our mind of perception

direct realits believe we percieve directly the physical wolrd and their properties

indirect realists believe we percieve physical objects and their properties via sense data; however, there is a physical world, we just don’t necessaily percieve it in its veridical form

both believ that if there’s nothing that exists to percieve, then why do we percieve in the first place?

difference- they differ on how driectly we percieve things

direct= direct, see the world as it is along with all iyts properties

indirect= indirect perception- through mind-dependent representations of the real object via sense data

we may percieve the physical objects and their properties accurately, we never driectly percieve it exactly how it exists out of the mind

Explain Russell’s claim that the existence of the external world is the ‘best hypothesis’

1) define indriect realism- immediate objects of percption and their qualities are mind-dependent objects that are caused by and represent mind-independent objects

2) outline the issue- it leads to sceptisicism about the existence of physical, mind-indpendent objects.

as we never percieve physical objects directly as the thoery of perception states- how can we be sure that there are even physical objects?

there can be another cause of our sense data and our perception- the explanatory gap

explanatory gap is the fact that there’s no explanantion of how objects cause sense data; therefore, leading to scepticism

Russell- indirect realist- counters this with ‘best hypothesis theory’. the existence of the external world us his best hypothesis.

Russel argues that there are two options- either physical objects do exist and cause our sense data OR physical objects don’t exist so there’s no explanation of where my sense data comes from. he argues that the best hypothesis = the first option as what else could explain our sense data?

this is explained through the cat example- you see a cat in one corner and then you turn around again and it has moved to the sofa. If there is nothing but sense data then the cat does not exist when you don’t see it- how could it move then?

Rusel claims that there must be an external cause that is mind-independent because otherwise, the cat would stay in the same position.

other possible explanantions of sense data- hallucination or dream- these are wose as they provide no explanation for perception

the exitsence of real objects, with certain properties explains this more effectively

he acknowldges sceptisicm but provides this as a better hypothesis (theory) than the others

Explain how illusions, hallucinations and perceptual variations prove that we do not perceive physical objects directly. How do they support sense data instead?

• Both PV and illusion prove that how we see an object and its vertical nature are not the same, which direct realists suggest should be the same.

• Indirect realists justify this appearance vs reality distinction by explaining what we are immediately aware of is not the object as it truly is but as it appears in our mind (sense data). although this is a representation of the object as a whole, it can sometimes come apart- leading to variation

• Hallucinations-sensation occurs in the mind alone and there’s nothing causing or resembling it in the real world (external); therefore, introducing mind dependent sense data as what we immediately perceive= a strong defence

Explain how indirect realists leads to scepticism of the existence of mind-dependent objects

• Indirect realists-immediately perceive sense data , but this is caused by and represents physical external objects.

• Distinction between how world appears to us (sense-data) and how world really is

• Since we only perceive sense data = we can never have access to the physical world itself

• Leading to scepticism of the external world

• 1- sense data is private, no two people should experience the same thing - but we do perceive similar things, so ye best explanation is that there is some physical object causing our similar perceptions

• Flawed reasoning- using physical objects to prove physical objects

• Russell best hypothesis response

Two defences of indirect realism against scepticism of the existence of the external world

• Define indirect realism

• Russel ‘best hypothesis’

• Locke - perceptual experiences, imagination- confirm by touching

Explain how other sense can confirm the existence of mind-dependent objects according to Locke and Cockburn

Existence of physical objects acts as the best explanation for the fact that information from one sense coheres with information from another and we can infer perceptual experiences in one sense from those in another

Example- fire, can confirm it’s real by touching it

Cockburn adds- must be something objective and measurable that allows us to continuously make accurate predictions.

The same object can cause perceptual experiences through different senses

Experiences themselves are different - seeing an object and hearing a sound but we learn that they match. Seeing a dog and barking

SO THE REASON WE ARE ABLE TO CONFIRM OUR EXPERIENCES AND PREDICT OUR EXPERIENCES MUST BE BECAUSE THERE ARE MIND INDEPENDENT OBJECTS BEHAVING THE SAME WAY

Explain how indirect realism leads to scepticism of the nature of the external world

• Define indirect realism and the appearance/ reality distinction

• The claim that sense data is not only caused by but represents / resemble physical objects leads to doubt

• = scepticism of the nature of the external world - even if we can show that sense data is caused by something mind-independent, can we establish what the cause is

• Cannot tell cause from effects as they don’t always resemble each other

• Would we know what fire looked like if we only saw smoke?

• If all we know is sense-data (effect) then we cannot know it resembles a physical object (the cause) and unless we put them side by side to compare likeness

Outline one argument to defend the claim that sense data resembles mind-independent physical objects

• Locke as a representative realist thinks we perceive the world indirectly via sense data

• He can explain how for sense data resembles physical objects using the primary/ secondary quality distinction

• Primary qualities- intrinsic to the object and exist independently of how we perceive them - when we perceive them it resembles the quality of the objects exactly

• Secondary qualities- made in the mind and vary greatly according to state and position of the observer -ideas of secondary qualities do not resemble anything existing in the object themselves

• Secondary qualities have a relationship to the physical world as they ‘produce particular experiences in us ‘- colour, taste, smell and sound