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Single Idea 7549

[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 4. Sense Data / b. Nature of sense-data ]

Full Idea

My meaning may be made plainer by saying that if my body could remain in exactly the same state in which it is, though my mind had ceased to exist, precisely that object which I now see when I see a flash would exist, though I should not see it.

Gist of Idea

If my body literally lost its mind, the object seen when I see a flash would still exist

Source

Bertrand Russell (The Ultimate Constituents of Matter [1915], p.126)

Book Ref

Russell,Bertrand: 'Mysticism and Logic' [Unwin 1989], p.126

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A Reaction

Zombies, 70 years before Robert Kirk! Sense-data are physical. It is interesting to see a philosopher as committed to empiricism, anti-spiritualism and the priority of science as this, still presenting an essentially dualist picture of perception.

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The 17 ideas with the same theme [what sense-data would consist of]:

22013

Subjects distinguish representations, as related both to subject and object [Reinhold]

6483	Russell held that we are aware of states of our own brain [Russell, by Robinson,H]

8244	Sense-data are qualities devoid of subjectivity, which are the basis of science [Russell, by Deleuze/Guattari]

6462	Sense-data are not mental, but are part of the subject-matter of physics [Russell]

6463	Sense-data are objects, and do not contain the subject as part, the way beliefs do [Russell]

6464	Sense-data are usually objects within the body, but are not part of the subject [Russell]

6467	No sensibile is ever a datum to two people at once [Russell]

7549	If my body literally lost its mind, the object seen when I see a flash would still exist [Russell]

7553	Sense-data are purely physical [Russell]

17642

The old view that sense data are independent of mind is quite dotty [Putnam]

6457	Sensations are mental, but sense-data could be mind-independent [Vesey]

6454	Where do sense-data begin or end? Can they change? What sort of thing are they? [Lacey]

6453	Some claim sense-data are public, and are parts of objects [Lacey]

2775	It is not clear from the nature of sense data whether we should accept them as facts [Dancy,J]

6480	Sense-data do not have any intrinsic intentionality [Robinson,H]

6482	For idealists and phenomenalists sense-data are in objects; representative realists say they resemble objects [Robinson,H]

2713	Are sense-data independent, with identity, substance and location? [Tye]