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Single Idea 5370

[filed under theme 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 3. Reality ]

Full Idea

The space of science is neutral as between touch and sight; thus it cannot be either the space of touch or the space of sight.

Gist of Idea

Space is neutral between touch and sight, so it cannot really be either of them

Source

Bertrand Russell (Problems of Philosophy [1912], Ch. 3)

Book Ref

Russell,Bertrand: 'The Problems of Philosophy' [OUP 1995], p.14

A Reaction

I find this persuasive, although it is hardly a knock-down argument. It is a very simple problem for anti-realists, that if you say reality IS sensations (à la Berkeley), then you have conflicting sensations of what seems to be one reality.

The 25 ideas with the same theme [sort of reality to which realists are committed]:

221 Absolute ideas, such as the Good and the Beautiful, cannot be known by us [Plato]
6562 Plato's reality has unchanging Parmenidean forms, and Heraclitean flux [Plato, by Fogelin]
12095 Knowledge of potential is universal and indefinite; of the actual it is definite and of individuals [Aristotle]
6262 We lack some sense or other, and hence objects may have hidden features [Montaigne]
12752 Only unities have any reality [Leibniz]
21926 Schopenhauer, unlike other idealists, says reality is irrational [Schopenhauer, by Lewis,PB]
10352 The real is the idea in which the community ultimately settles down [Peirce]
22202 The World is all experiencable objects [Husserl]
5370 Space is neutral between touch and sight, so it cannot really be either of them [Russell]
22161 Readiness-to-hand defines things in themselves ontologically [Heidegger]
13934 To be 'real' is to be an element of a system, so we cannot ask reality questions about the system itself [Carnap]
17659 Reality is largely a matter of habit [Goodman]
8507 Some think of reality as made of things; I prefer facts or states of affairs [Armstrong]
12598 Reality is the overlap of true complete theories [Harman]
2329 Causal power is a good way of distinguishing the real from the unreal [Kim]
7974 Without God we faced reality: what do we face without reality? [Baudrillard]
6082 If causal power is the test for reality, that will exclude necessities and possibilities [McGinn]
1605 Reality can be viewed neutrally, or as an object of desire [Roochnik]
9211 A non-standard realism, with no privileged standpoint, might challenge its absoluteness or coherence [Fine,K]
15072 Bottom level facts are subject to time and world, middle to world but not time, and top to neither [Fine,K]
15047 What is real can only be settled in terms of 'ground' [Fine,K]
15046 Reality is a primitive metaphysical concept, which cannot be understood in other terms [Fine,K]
15048 In metaphysics, reality is regarded as either 'factual', or as 'fundamental' [Fine,K]
15060 Why should what is explanatorily basic be therefore more real? [Fine,K]
21660 Reality can be seen as the totality of facts, or as the totality of things [Hofweber]