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Single Idea 6366

[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 1. Perception ]

Full Idea

Perception is a causal process that inputs beliefs into our doxastic system without their being inferred from or justified on the basis of other beliefs we already have.

Clarification

'Doxa' is Greek for belief

Gist of Idea

Perception causes beliefs in us, without inference or justification

Source

J Pollock / J Cruz (Contemporary theories of Knowledge (2nd) [1999], §3.2.3)

Book Ref

Pollock,J.L./Cruz,J: 'Contemporary Theories of Knowledge (2nd)' [Rowman and Littlefield 1999], p.74

A Reaction

This topic is much discussed (e.g. by MacDowell). I don't see how something is going to qualify as a 'belief' if it doesn't involve concepts and propositions. The point that we are caused to have many of our beliefs (rather than judging) seems right.

The 34 ideas with the same theme [process from raw experience to awareness of reality]:

1506 Parmenides treats perception and intellectual activity as the same [Theophrastus on Parmenides]
20802 Snow is not white, and doesn't even appear white, because it is made of black water [Anaxagoras, by Cicero]
2045 Perception is infallible, suggesting that it is knowledge [Plato]
2067 Our senses could have been separate, but they converge on one mind [Plato]
17711 Our minds take on the form of what is being perceived [Aristotle, by Mares]
1724 Perception necessitates pleasure and pain, which necessitates appetite [Aristotle]
1725 Why can't we sense the senses? And why do senses need stimuli? [Aristotle]
1730 Why do we have many senses, and not just one? [Aristotle]
1732 Sense organs aren't the end of sensation, or they would know what does the sensing [Aristotle]
16723 Perception of sensible objects is virtually never wrong [Aristotle]
12379 You cannot understand anything through perception [Aristotle]
2664 If we have complete healthy senses, what more could the gods give us? [Cicero]
22167 Our images of bodies are not produced by the bodies, but by our own minds [Augustine, by Aquinas]
16724 The senses deceive, but also show their own errors [Bacon]
19353 'Perception' is basic internal representation, and 'apperception' is reflective knowledge of perception [Leibniz]
19419 Not all of perception is accompanied by consciousness [Leibniz]
7631 Sensation is not committed to any external object, but perception is [Reid]
15609 The sensible is distinguished from thought by being about singular things [Hegel]
21773 Experience is immediacy, unity, forces, self-awareness, reason, culture, absolute being [Hegel, by Houlgate]
20119 We became increasingly conscious of our sense impressions in order to communicate them [Nietzsche]
4529 All sense perceptions are permeated with value judgements (useful or harmful) [Nietzsche]
2780 Perception is either direct realism, indirect realism, or phenomenalism [Dancy,J]
12581 Perceptual concepts causally influence the content of our experiences [Peacocke]
4264 Perception (which involves an assessment) is a higher state than sensation [Scruton]
6502 Can we reduce perception to acquisition of information, which is reduced to causation or disposition? [Robinson,H]
6513 Would someone who recovered their sight recognise felt shapes just by looking? [Robinson,H]
2397 'Perception' means either an action or a mental state [Chalmers]
6366 Perception causes beliefs in us, without inference or justification [Pollock/Cruz]
6860 How can one discriminate yellow from red, but not the colours in between? [Williamson]
6857 An error theory of perception says our experience is not as it seems to be [Martin,M]
7632 Perception is sensation-then-concept, or direct-concepts, or sensation-saturated-in-concepts [Maund]
14585 We have more than five senses; balance and proprioception, for example [Mumford/Anjum]
20924 In phenomenology, all perception is 'seeing as' [Zimmermann,J]
14694 "My dog's got synaesthesia." How does he smell? ..... [Sommers,W]