Direct and Indirect Perception
Edited by Susanna Schellenberg (Rutgers University - New Brunswick)
Assistant editor: Andrew Rubner
About this topic
Summary | This area is structured by three central questions. A first question is: What does it mean to perceive something directly? There are two standard ways in which this question has been answered. On one conception, to perceive x directly is to perceive x, but not in virtue of perceiving anything else, while to perceive x indirectly is to perceive x in virtue of perceiving something else. On another conception, to perceive x directly is to be perceptually aware of x without one’s awareness of x being inferred from prior awareness of anything else, and to perceive x indirectly is for one’s perceptual awareness of x to be inferred from prior awareness of something else. A second question is: What do we perceive directly? Direct realists have it that we perceive physical objects directly. Indirect realists, such as sense datum theorists, have it that we perceive mental proxies for physical objects directly. A third question centers on the nature of properties perceived directly. Do we perceive the intrinsic properties of objects (such as size and shape) directly? If not, do we perceive intrinsic properties indirectly in virtue of perceiving mind-dependent appearance properties? Or do we perceive intrinsic properties indirectly, in virtue of perceiving mind-independent relational properties, such as situation-dependent properties? |
Key works | Versions of the first conception of direct perception are developed in Jackson 1977 and Foster 2000. A version of the second conception is explicated in Huemer 2001. Though interpretation is controversial, Reid 1813 is often listed as a historical proponent of direct realism. Modern proponents of the view include Brewer 2011 and Martin 2002. Indirect realism is often associated with Locke 1690. More recently the view has been advocated by Jackson 1977 and Robinson 1994. |
Introductions | Jackson 1977, Huemer 2005, Bonjour 2004, Schellenberg 2008. |
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Editorial team
General Editors:
David Bourget (Western Ontario) David Chalmers (ANU, NYU) Area Editors: David Bourget Gwen Bradford Berit Brogaard Margaret Cameron David Chalmers James Chase Rafael De Clercq Ezio Di Nucci Barry Hallen Hans Halvorson Jonathan Ichikawa Michelle Kosch Øystein Linnebo JeeLoo Liu Paul Livingston Brandon Look Manolo Martínez Matthew McGrath Michiru Nagatsu Susana Nuccetelli Giuseppe Primiero Jack Alan Reynolds Darrell P. Rowbottom Aleksandra Samonek Constantine Sandis Howard Sankey Jonathan Schaffer Thomas Senor Robin Smith Daniel Star Jussi Suikkanen Lynne Tirrell Aness Kim Webster Other editors Contact us Learn more about PhilPapers |