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Single Idea 21538

[filed under theme 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 2. Realism ]

Full Idea

If two people can perceive the same object, as the possibility of any common world requires, then the object of an external perception is not in the mind of the percipient.

Gist of Idea

If two people perceive the same object, the object of perception can't be in the mind

Source

Bertrand Russell (Meinong on Complexes and Assumptions [1904], p.33)

Book Ref

Russell,Bertrand: 'Essays in Analysis', ed/tr. Lackey,Douglas [George Braziller 1973], p.33


A Reaction

This is merely an assertion of the realist view, rather than an argument. I take representative realism to tell a perfectly good story that permits two subjective representations of the same object.


The 41 ideas with the same theme [commitment to the existence of a reality outside our minds]:

Reasoning needs to cut nature accurately at the joints [Plato]
God assures me of the existence of external things [Locke]
If experience is just a dream, it is still real enough if critical reason is never deceived [Leibniz]
The strongest criterion that phenomena show reality is success in prediction [Leibniz]
The division of nature into matter makes distinct appearances, and that presupposes substances [Leibniz]
The only indications of reality are agreement among phenomena, and their agreement with necessities [Leibniz]
Kant is read as the phenomena being 'contrained' by the noumenon, or 'free-floating' [Talbot on Kant]
Consciousness is not entirely representational, because there are pains, and the self [Schulze, by Pinkard]
Kant's thing-in-itself is just an abstraction from our knowledge; things only exist for us [Hegel, by Bowie]
Hegel believe that the genuine categories reveal things in themselves [Hegel, by Houlgate]
For me the objective thing-in-itself is the will [Schopenhauer]
Realism is basic to the scientific method [Peirce]
Realism is the belief that there is something in the being of things corresponding to our reasoning [Peirce]
There may be no reality; it's just our one desperate hope of knowing anything [Peirce]
We can't be realists, because we don't know what being is [Nietzsche]
We can only distinguish self from non-self if there is an inflexible external reality [Colvin]
Common-sense realism rests on our interests and practical life [Colvin]
If two people perceive the same object, the object of perception can't be in the mind [Russell]
Quantum theory shows that exact science does not need dogmatic realism [Heisenberg]
Unfortunately for realists, modern logic cannot say that some fact exists [Sommers]
Realism is a theory, which explains the convergence of science and the success of language [Putnam]
Metaphysical realism is committed to there being one ultimate true theory [Putnam]
Realists believe truth is correspondence, independent of humans, is bivalent, and is unique [Putnam]
Realism is just the application of two-valued semantics to sentences [Dummett]
Dummett saw realism as acceptance of bivalence, rather than of mind-independent entities [Dummett, by Potter]
Metaphysical realists are committed to all unambiguous statements being true or not true [Dummett]
Philosophers should not presume reality, but only invoke it when language requires it [Dummett]
In the realist view, the real external world explains how it (and perceptions of it) are possible [Williams,B]
Kripke's metaphysics (essences, kinds, rigidity) blocks the slide into sociology [Kripke, by Ladyman/Ross]
Realist Conceptualists accept that our interests affect our concepts [Wiggins]
Conceptualism says we must use our individuating concepts to grasp reality [Wiggins]
Realism says that most perceived objects exist, and have some of their perceived properties [Dancy,J]
How does a direct realist distinguish a building from Buckingham Palace? [Lockwood]
To explain object qualities, primary qualities must be more than mere sources of experience [McGinn]
Realism says some of our concepts 'cut nature at the joints' [Heil]
Modest realism says there is a reality; the presumptuous view says we can accurately describe it [Mumford]
Realists believe in independent objects, correspondence, and fallibility of all theories [Button]
For realists it is analytic that truths are grounded in the world [Cameron]
Realism says a discourse is true or false, and some of it is true [Cameron]
Realism says truths rest on mind-independent reality; truthmaking theories are about which features [Cameron]
Indirect realists are cautious about the manifest image, and prefer the scientific image [Ingthorsson]