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21686 | Sense-data are dubious abstractions, with none of the plausibility of tables [Quine] |
Full Idea: The notion of pure sense datum is a pretty tenuous abstraction, a good deal more conjectural than the notion of an external object, a table or a sheep. | |
From: Willard Quine (On Mental Entities [1952], p.225) | |
A reaction: This seems to sum up the view of sense-data held by the generation after Russell and Moore. Ayer still talks about them, but Russell had already given them up. The simple challenge is - what is the evidence for their existence? Cf innate ideas. |