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A relational response to Newman's Objection to Russell's Causal Theory of Perception
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Eilan, Naomi (2015) A relational response to Newman's Objection to Russell's Causal Theory of Perception. Theoria, 81 (1). pp. 4-26. doi:10.1111/theo.12037 ISSN 0040-5825.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/theo.12037
Abstract
The causal theory of perception (CTP) has come under a great deal of critical scrutiny from philosophers of mind interested in the nature of perception. M. H. Newman's set-theoretic objection to Russell's structuralist version of the CTP, in his 1928 paper “Mr Russell's Causal Theory of Perception” has not, to my knowledge, figured in these discussions. In this paper I aim to show that it should: Newman's objection can be generalized to yield a particularly powerful and incisive challenge to all versions of the CTP. In effect it says that if the CTP is true, at least one of the following claims must be false. (1) Our perception-based judgements are made true or false by the state of mind independent objects. (2) The concepts we use in such judgments refer to the intrinsic, mind-independent properties of such objects. (3) Experience provides us with knowledge of these properties. The paper sets out the structure of the problem as Newman saw it, extends it to current debates in theory of perception and considers various responses to it. The response I argue for involves jettisoning the CTP in favour of a relational account of perceptual experience, in a way that allows us to hold onto all three claims.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) | ||||||||
| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Philosophy | ||||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Perception (Philosophy), Causation | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Theoria | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 0040-5825 | ||||||||
| Official Date: | February 2015 | ||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 81 | ||||||||
| Number: | 1 | ||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 4-26 | ||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1111/theo.12037 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 6 April 2017 | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 11 April 2017 |
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