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Single Idea 15580

[from 'Being and Time' by Martin Heidegger, in 12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 4. Sense Data / d. Sense-data problems ]

Full Idea

We always take a noise as the sound of something; we always take a hue as the color of something. We simply do not experience raw, uninterpreted sense-data - these are the inventions of philosophers.

Gist of Idea

There are no raw sense-data - our experiences are of the sound or colour of something

Source

Martin Heidegger (Being and Time [1927], 207/163-4), quoted by Richard Polt - Heidegger: an introduction 3.§31-3

Book Reference

Polt,Richard: 'Heidegger: an introduction' [Routledge 2003], p.71


A Reaction

This is something like the modern view of sense-data as promoted by John McDowell, rather than the experiential atoms of Russell and Moore. Experience is holistic, but that doesn't mean we can't analyse it into components.