McLean Schneider--Notes for Friday October 11
Naive realism vs. representationalism.
NAIVE?DIRECT REALISM: Things are how we perceive them--we perceive the external world directly.
ARG. against Naive Realism...
1)We only perceive data from the narrow perspective of medium sized material and we cannot perceive micro/macro extremes.
2)what we see is given to interpretation and is determined by arbitrarily produced beliefs. Eg: "Hippo-river-god"
(Naive Realists do not see that perception goes beyond what is taken in by the senses.
3) We only perceive a narro range of sensory data--sight, smell, sound--less than many animals.
4)Some senses--sonar, internal compass--we lack alltogether
5)Our brains do a lot of sensory interpretation in order to achieve consciousness--this determines our perceptions.
REPRESENTATIONALISM:We perceive objects INDIRECTLY through SENSE DATA which we judge to come from an external world.
LOCKE ATTACKS "INNATE IDEAS"
1) Children, aboriginal peoples, the "retarded" and "village idiots", as well as the uneducated--DO NOT have innate concepts.
2)Nobody comes to a consensus on so-called "innate concepts". Eg: God, morality.
3)Could be used by tyrants to control the masses--Eg:"Divine right of Kings"...