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Single Idea 22449

[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 5. Interpretation ]

Full Idea

One might think that 'is red' means the same as 'seems red to most people', forgetting that when asked if an object is red we look at it to see if it is red, and not in order to estimate the reaction that others will have to it.

Gist of Idea

When we say 'is red' we don't mean 'seems red to most people'

Source

Philippa Foot (Moral Relativism [1979], p.23)

Book Ref

Foot,Philippa: 'Moral Dilemmas' [OUP 2002], p.23


A Reaction

True, but we are conscious of our own reliability as observers (e.g. if colourblind, or with poor hearing or eyesight). I don't take my glasses off, have a look, and pronounce that the object is blurred. Ordinary language philosophy in action.


The 26 ideas with the same theme [role of interpretation in a direct act of perception]:

Sensations cannot be judged, because similar sensations have equal value, and different ones have nothing in common [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
Stoic perception is a presentation to which one voluntarily assents [Stoic school, by Stobaeus]
How can the intellect know if sensation is reliable if it doesn't directly see external objects? [Sext.Empiricus]
Why does pain make us sad? [Descartes]
If the body is affected by an external object, the mind can't help believing that the object exists [Spinoza]
It is unclear whether a toothache is in the mind or in the tooth, but the word has a single meaning [Reid]
Kant says the cognitive and sensory elements in experience can't be separated [Kant, by Dancy,J]
Hegel tried to avoid Kant's dualism of neutral intuitions and imposed concepts [Hegel, by Pinkard]
All perception is intellectual [Schopenhauer]
We see an approximation of a tree, not the full detail [Nietzsche]
Sense perceptions contain values (useful, so pleasant) [Nietzsche]
Pain shows the value of the damage, not what has been damaged [Nietzsche]
Perception is unconscious, and we are only conscious of processed perceptions [Nietzsche]
Perception goes straight to the fact, and not through the proposition [Russell]
Perceived objects always appear in a context [Heidegger]
Kant showed that our perceptions are partly constructed from our concepts [Reichenbach]
The mind does not unite perceptions, because they flow into one another [Merleau-Ponty]
When we say 'is red' we don't mean 'seems red to most people' [Foot]
Perception is a function of expectation [Searle]
The way in which colour experiences are evoked is physically odd and unpredictable [Goldman]
There is no pure Given, but it is cultured, rather than entirely relative [McDowell, by Macbeth]
Perception is first simple, then objectual (with concepts) and then propositional [Audi,R]
Sense organs don't discriminate; they reduce various inputs to the same electrical pulses [Carter,R]
The recognition sequence is: classify, name, locate, associate, feel [Carter,R, by PG]
We are unable to perceive a nose (on the back of a mask) as concave [Sorensen]
Research shows perceptual discrimination is sharper at category boundaries [Murphy]