more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
If I stare at a white wall with my brain wired to a virtual reality computer, and it generates a white wall, we wouldn't say I am seeing reality. It seems that the wall itself must in some way cause my perception of it.
Gist of Idea
Appearances don't guarantee reality, unless the appearance is actually caused by the reality
Source
Jonathan Dancy (Intro to Contemporary Epistemology [1985], 11.4)
Book Ref
Dancy,Jonathan: 'Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology' [Blackwell 1985], p.173
A Reaction
But suppose the computer generated in my mind an image of the wall which was actually in front of me? And suppose the computer got its image from the identical wall next door, not from mine? And it was only judged identical because the architect said so
| 5927 | I prefer the causal theory to sense data, because sensations are events, not apprehensions [Ross] |
| 5193 | Causal and representative theories of perception are wrong as they refer to unobservables [Ayer] |
| 3900 | Maybe experience is not essential to perception, but only to the causing of beliefs [Armstrong, by Scruton] |
| 2784 | Appearances don't guarantee reality, unless the appearance is actually caused by the reality [Dancy,J] |
| 2785 | Perceptual beliefs may be directly caused, but generalisations can't be [Dancy,J] |
| 7871 | Perceptual concepts can't just refer to what causes classification [Papineau] |
| 7711 | Science requires a causal theory - perception of an object must be an experience caused by the object [Lowe] |
| 6640 | A causal theorist can be a direct realist, if all objects of perception are external [Lowe] |
| 6645 | If blindsight shows we don't need perceptual experiences, the causal theory is wrong [Lowe] |
| 3757 | Causal theory says true perceptions must be caused by the object perceived [Bernecker/Dretske] |