Michael Huemer

Skepticism and the Veil of Perception (eBook, ePUB)

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Since Descartes, one of the central questions of Western philosophy has been that of how we know that the objects we seem to perceive are real. Philosophical skeptics claim that we know no such thing. Representationalists claim that we can gain such knowledge only by inference, by showing that the hypothesis of a real world is the best explanation for the kind of sensations and mental images we experience. Both accept the doctrine of a 'veil of perception:' that perception can only give us direct awareness of images or representations of objects, not the external objects themselves. In contrast, Huemer develops a theory of perceptual awareness in which perception gives us direct awareness of real objects, not mental representations, and we have non-inferential knowledge of the properties of these objects. Further, Huemer confronts the four main arguments for philosophical skepticism, showing that they are powerless against this kind of theory of perceptual knowledge.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury eBooks US
• Seitenzahl: 232
• Erscheinungstermin: 17. Juli 2001
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781461642336
• Artikelnr.: 39487114

Autorenporträt

Michael Huemer is assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Inhaltsangabe

Chapter 1 Analytical Contents
Chapter 2 Figures
Chapter 3 Preface
Chapter 4 Introduction: The Problem of Perceptual Knowledge
Chapter 5 The Lure of Radical Skepticism
Chapter 6 Easy Answers to Skepticism
Chapter 7 A Version of Direct Realism
Chapter 8 A Version of Foundationalism
Chapter 9 Objections to Direct Realism
Chapter 10 An Objection to Indirect Realism: The Problem of Spatial
Properties
Chapter 11 The Direct Realist's Answer to Skepticism