1. Quick Recap – Deductive / Inductive
Read the following passage – can you identify at least 2 examples of deductive reasoning and 2 examples of inductive reasoning?
During a science lesson Kerrie lit the Bunsen burner. She was careful not to touch it as she knew her hand would feel pain if she did. She carried her test tubes carefully to the bench, knowing that if she dropped them they would fall and break. For the second half of the lesson the class was split into two, based on ages. Robin’s friend was put in the younger group, since Robin was younger than her friend she figured she should also be in that group and moved accordingly. During the last part of the lesson she heard a beaker crash to the floor, she assumed someone must have knocked it off the bench but no one owned up to it. Robin knew someone must have done it, nothing happens without cause.

2. Homework
1st Time Missed: Note on your student file. Verbal warning. To be brought to next support session / lesson. 2nd Time Missed: Phone call home. Disciplinary warning. Bring completed to next support session / lesson. 3rd Time Missed: Disciplinary stage one.

3. Knowledge…
The first topic we will be covering in Philosophy is Epistemology – also known as the “Theory of Knowledge”. This are of philosophy is concerned with knowledge, justification and belief. More specifically what we actually mean by these terms and how we identify them in every day life.

4. How many different ways of acquiring knowledge can you think of?
Think / Pair / Share…
How many different ways of acquiring knowledge can you think of?

5. Perception: Perception and the external world…
Lesson objective:
Introduce and examine the direct realist approach to perception.
Consider the argument from illusions as an issue for Direct Realism.

6. KEY TERM
PERCEPTION:
The process by which we become aware of physical objects and the external world including our own body.

7. HOW DO WE ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE?
An obvious answer is that we learn about it through our senses.
We know that the cat is on the mat because we can see it there. We know that it is a hot day because we can feel the warmth of the sun on our backs.
But is this good enough for us to say we have true knowledge of the external world? Are our senses always right?
Can we sometimes be wrong?

8. WAIT… EXTERNAL WORLD?
For each individual (of any species), the external world is everything that exists outside that individual’s mind. The external world consists of physical objects such as tables, mountains, trees, bodies etc.
Regarding such physical objects the question we are concerned with over the next few weeks is:
“Which of their apparent characteristics really exist in the objects themselves and which exist only in our minds?”

9. Accuracy of Perception
This question can also be expressed using the concepts of “appearance” and “reality”:
To what degree, if any, does the reality of physical objects match their appearance in perceivers’ minds?
Is there an “exact match”, a “partial match” or, are there no physical objects to match our perceptions?
Issues such as these require us to reflect on ontological questions concerning ‘what exists’ and epistemological questions concerning ‘knowledge’ of what exists.

10. How accurate?
How accurate do you think our senses are when it comes to seeing the way the world really is? 1-10 with a reason for your choice.
Not at all accurate
Very accurate 1 10

11. REALIST THEORIES OF PERCEPTION
If you examine ordinary assumptions about the way perception works (either your own or those of people that do not study philosophy), then you’ll probably find you hold a realist view.
If you are a REALIST about something, then you believe it exists independently of our minds.
If you are an ANTIREALIST about something, you think it is mind-dependent.

12. REALIST THEORIES OF PERCEPTION
If you examine ordinary assumptions about the way perception works (either your own or those of people that do not study philosophy), , then you’ll probably find you hold a realist view.
Usually people tend to be committed to REALISM about the world around us; believing that physical objects exist independently of our minds.
Often they will go further and support DIRECT REALISM: the idea that we perceive things directly, that is, without anything “getting between” us and the objects we perceive.

13. PERCEPTION THEORY NUMBER 1 – DIRECT REALISM!
Read through the paragraph below on page 53 – Can you bullet point the key features of Direct Realism?

14. DIRECT REALISM – KEY POINTS
1. Direct realism claims that objects are composed of matter; they occupy space, and have properties such as size, shape, texture, smell, taste and colour.
2. These properties are perceived directly. When we touch, see, hear, smell and taste things we are experiencing those things directly with nothing getting in the way and altering our perceptions.

15. DIRECT REALISM – KEY POINTS
3. This view also tends to suppose this means that we must perceive objects as they truly are.
So, when you look at your red door the reason you see it as red, is that it really is red. And when others come to visit, they also see the same objects with the same properties

16. DIRECT REALISM – KEY POINTS
4. Importantly, objects also retain their properties whether or not there is anyone present to observe them; when you turn out the light to go to bed, the objects you can no longer see remain where they are and with the same shapes and colours as before. You may not be able to see it, but your door is still red.

17. DIRECT REALISM IN A NUTSHELL
Key features: 1. Direct realism claims that objects are composed of matter; they occupy space, and have properties such as size, shape, texture, smell, taste and colour. 2. These properties are perceived directly. In other words, when we look at, listen to and touch things, we see, hear and feel those things themselves with no intermediary (i.e. nothing getting in the way and distorting our perceptions). 3. DR also tends to suppose this means that we must perceive objects as they truly are (i.e. a door that looks red is really red) and we all see the same properties. 4. Importantly, objects also retain their properties whether or not there is anyone present to observe them; when you turn out the light to go to bed, the objects you can no longer see remain where they are and with the same shapes and colours as before. You may not be able to see it, but your door is still red.

18. REALIST THEORIES OF PERCEPTION
So let us sketch out an initial version of this common-sense view, a view often called NAÏVE DIRECT REALISM since it is what people tend to adhere to before engaging in much philosophical reflection on the matter.
DRAW AN IMAGE THAT SHOWS DIRECT REALISM TO HELP YOU MAKE SENSE OF YOUR NOTES.

19. IN SUPPORT OF DIRECT REALISM
Why do you think some people support direct realism? What is attractive about it?

20. IN SUPPORT OF DIRECT REALISM
There are two main reasons that people tend to support direct realism:
Widely endorsed by common sense. Most people accept direct realism’s view that physical objects have all the types of characteristics they seem to have. If you think that philosophy should support, or, at least not disagree with, common sense, this will seem a strong reason to accept direct realism.
Its simplicity when placed alongside other accounts of perception make it an attractive option. Often, we think that simpler theories are more likely to be true than complicated theories (Ockham’s Razor). For example, direct realists do not have to explain how physical objects lacking in common sense characteristics (e.g. colour) cause in us sensations that make us believe they possess such characteristics.

21. Direct Realism – Correct?
Do you think we perceive the world as it really is? Be prepared to justify your answer (think back to your homework).

22. ANIMALS – Better than humans?
It is interesting to consider that other animals have senses that are far more sensitive than our own. Dogs, for example, can hear sounds that are too high for us to hear, and they can smell all kinds of things that we can’t. Sharks can sense the electric fields round some living things and some animals can see into the infrared part of the light spectrum. Does this mean they are perceiving the world more accurately than us? What are we missing?

23. IS IT POSSIBLE?
The naive direct realist may initially answer here that animals simply have better senses and are gaining a truer perception of the world than we are. But this presents a problem for DR – they want to claim they are seeing the world as it really is. But if there are parts of it they can’t sense due to the limits of their perceptions, their view by extension is not exactly how the external world really is.

24. Have a look the two lines below. Which line is longer?
AN ISSUE - ILLUSIONS?
Have a look the two lines below. Which line is longer?
In the Müller-Lyer illusion the horizontal line at the top appears to be longer than the one at the bottom. However, if you measure the two they turn out to be the same length.
Top or Bottom?
Our eyes appear to have deceived us.

27. ILLUSIONS?
Another case of our eyes deceiving us is when an pencil appears to bend when half-immersed in water. It looks bent, but we know it’s really straight.
Why do these examples present a problem for the direct realist approach to perception?

28. THE ARGUMENT FROM ILLUSION
If we accept direct realism – then illusions force us into a strange position where we either have to accept their validity or undermine DR.
In the case of the stick in water – which seems more likely?
The stick itself does actually bend when immersed in water and straightens again when removed.
The direct realist is wrong and our perception of an object is not always identical to that object.

29. THE ARGUMENT FROM ILLUSION
Can you turn this argument into premises and a conclusion similar to what we covered in the last lesson(s)?
Start with the conclusion – what is the argument trying to prove?

30. THE ARGUMENT FROM ILLUSION

31. How accurate?
How accurate do you think our senses are when it comes to seeing the way the world really is? 1-10 with a reason for your choice.
Not at all accurate
Very accurate 1 10

32. Lesson Summary