more from Howard Robinson

Single Idea 6506

[catalogued under 12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 8. Adverbial Theory]

Full Idea

'Sense redly' sounds peculiar, but 'senses redly-squarely' or 'red-squarely' or 'senses redly-squarely-tablely' and other variants sound far worse.

Gist of Idea

'Sense redly' sounds peculiar, but 'senses redly-squarely tablely' sounds far worse

Source

Howard Robinson (Perception [1994], VII.5)

Book Reference

Robinson,Howard: 'Perception' [Routledge 2001], p.174


A Reaction

This is a comment on the adverbial theory, which is meant to replace representative theories based on sense-data. The problem is not that it sounds weird; it is that while plain red can be a mode of perception, being a table obviously can't.

Related Idea

Idea 15817 If we can say a man senses 'redly', why not also 'rectangularly'? [Chisholm]