Representationalism Research Articles

Hobbes and the ‘great deception of sense’

ABSTRACT In Human Nature, Hobbes argues for what I call the ‘Great Deception Thesis': “whatsoever accidents or qualities our senses make us think there be in the world, they are not there, but are seemings and apparitions only”. I argue that both the thesis and Hobbes’ arguments for it have been misunderstood. Rather than arguing for indirect realism or a primary/secondary quality distinction, Hobbes claims that no sensory experience resembles its object. I conclude by showing how Hobbes can account for the usefulness of images even in the absence of any resemblance between those images and the objects that cause them. If I am right, Hobbes presents a distinctive and intriguing theory of perception, one that emphasizes the dynamic nature of experience.

Abduction, Skepticism, and Indirect Realism

AbstractMoore and Russell thought that perceptual knowledge of the external world is based on abductive inference from information about our experience. Sosa maintains that this ‘indirect realist’ strategy has no prospects of working. Vogel disagrees and thinks it can and does work perfectly well, and his reasoning (and variations on that reasoning) seem initially promising, moreso than other approaches. My aim, however, will be to adjudicate this dispute in favor of Sosa’s pessimistic answer, and in doing so, to better uncover the important role abductive inference does have in a wider theory of perceptual knowledge, even if it doesn’t feature in any promising vindication of (anti-skeptical) indirect realism.

Seeing through the forms ‐ towards a Platonic indirect realism

Seeing through the forms ‐ towards a Platonic indirect realism

Indirect Legacy and Outcomes of Mega‐Sporting Events: The Case of the Qatar 2022 World Cup

Scholars have extensively studied mega‐sporting events’ impact and legacies. However, these studies typically focus on the host city or country. The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, the first mega‐sporting event in the Gulf region, evoked a deeper reflection on the legacy of such events. After conducting 21 in-depth interviews with participants from nine Arab nations and utilizing constructivist grounded theory, new perceptions of mega‐event legacy emerged. Arab pride, tangible outcomes, an accessible success model, a technical legacy, making sports a key part of Arab social life, boosting social capital, and a hazy sense of sorrow represented the indirect outcomes of the Qatar 2022 World Cup for Arab countries. The similarities between Qatar and its neighbors have shaped indirect perceptions. Although the perceived outcomes were favorable, some Arab citizens may have experienced conflicting feelings of sorrow. The findings shed light on the legacy of mega‐sporting events beyond the host nation.

칸트 선험적 인식론에 대한 듀이의 비판 일고찰

I. Kant’s transcendental epistemology is known to suppose dualistic thinking in that it attempted to explain knowledge as a synthesis of the subject and its object in an ‘external’ relationship, and as a synthesis of Thing-in-itself and phenomenon. According to J. Dewey, in order to overcome this epistemological dualism, we must understand our reason as an organic concept, and the subject and its object must be understood as parts inseparably connected to the organism. Dewey’s experimental theory of knowledge is based on this concept of reason and explains knowledge through the activity of reason, that is, ‘inquiry’ (thinking, reflection). According to Dewey’s theory, knowledge is established in the functional relationships between ‘concepts’(hypotheses) and ‘facts’(results) as key elements of the process of inquiry, and in this case the validity of knowledge is not depend on the foundation of certainty as Thing-in-itself but on the security of those functional relationships. However, Dewey’s functionalist way of thinking falls short in correctly establishing the validity of knowledge. According to D. W. Hamlyn, the validity of knowledge cannot be explained without agreement in judgment with other peoples, and therefore agreement in forms of life is an indispensable condition for elucidating the objectivity and truth of knowledge. In light of Hamlyn’s opinion, unlike Dewey’s criticism of Kant, the transcendental concepts and Thing-in-itself in Kant’s epistemology can be reinterpreted in relation to forms of life.

Roger Bacon’s indirect realism of quantity perception

ABSTRACT My goal in this paper is to contribute to the literature on Roger Bacon's epistemology by focusing on the issue of perception of quantity. The reading I aim to substantiate is that Bacon's account is best understood in terms of indirect realism. I call it indirect realism because although we have access to quantities as they exist in nature, the account is mediated by the use of a quasi-syllogism. The quasi-syllogism is constructed based on three inputs, the species of the eye, colour, and light. To defend this reading I follow five steps. First, I analyse the importance of quantity in perception, and then, in steps two and three, I look at Bacon's theory of perception from its two sides, extramission and intromission. In the fourth step I look at the quasi-syllogisms that mediate cognition of quantities, and in the fifth and final step, I draw all the threads together and make the case for Bacon's indirect realism of quantity perception.

Эволюционные, когнитивные и семиотические основания обучения в виртуальной реальности

The article addresses the classical epistemological debate on direct and indirect realism from educational perspectives relating to the studies of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Real­ity (AR). Recently, D. Hoffman introduced the Interface Theory of Perception stating that senses and thoughts mediate and represent reality similar to interface of computer represent­ing hidden process in a computer. Hoffman goes further and compares the nature of cogni­tion with production of virtual reality. Studies of VR partly confirmed such statements. For instance, due to an interaction of our mind with computer-generated objects (signs), move­ment and acceleration in VR during a virtual free fall from a parachute experienced as real. By using the Interface Theory of Perception and semiotic theory, the paper examines how the signs and interactions in VR scenarios can replace/construct studied realities and be used for learning. It is argued that VR allows building for learners ‘developmental niches’ to ex­perience and acquire new skills or conceptual knowledge. Overlays or signs augmented on these VR environments give ‘semiotic scaffolding’ for learners who re-construct studied social realities or receive instructions for the acquisition of professional skills. These results were investigated in three types of VR environments with different degrees of semiotic scaf­folding and evaluated by experts in cultural education. It is shown that VR provides learning environments similar to the real world and provided semiotic scaffolding reduced the cogni­tive loads in these developmental niches. VR environments for professional learning as well as for general education can benefit from using semiotic scaffoldings in virtual apprentice­ship and professional instruction. Augmented Reality could also scaffold and speed-up sci­entific discoveries through the effective integration of researchers into the ‘collective me­mory’ (global databases) and technically scaffolded processes of recognition.

The Place of Naïve Realism in Russell’s Changing Accounts of Perception

In this paper I describe the place of naive realism in Russell’s changing accounts of perception. I argue ‎for the following conclusions: (1) The early period, 1898-1910: I am inclined to think that the naïve ‎realism that Russell embraced so enthusiastically early on may not have been intended as a naïve ‎realism about perception, but as a metaphysical or semantical thesis. (2) The Problems of Philosophy ‎‎(1912): Russell abandons naïve realism (if, in fact, he ever held it) and presents a sense-datum version ‎of representative realism. (3) “On Matter” (1912): here we see Russell’s best attempt to defend ‎something very close to the standard doctrine of naïve realism. The objects of perception—the ‎‎“everyday material objects such as caterpillars and Cadillacs”—have, of course, undergone severe ‎reconstruction. But the resulting picture does capture the spirit of the doctrine. (4) The period from ‎‎1914 to 1927: though Russell’s thinking about perception underwent some significant changes during ‎this period—the sense datum theory is replaced by neutral monism—I try to show that the ‎distinction between the matter of physics and the thing of common sense is a constant feature of ‎Russell’s changing views. And I suggest that our perceptual relation the thing of common ‎sense (as logically reconstructed by Russell) can usefully be viewed as a limited sort of naïve realism. ‎‎(5) The period after 1927: the thing of common sense no longer features in Russell’s account of our ‎perceptual access to the world. The things we perceive are percepts, located in our private spaces. The ‎only material objects of which these percepts are parts are our brains. All other material objects are ‎beyond our perceptual reach and are accessible only via inference. This is the end of anything ‎resembling the traditional view of naïve realism in Russell’s account of perception. ‎

GS-AGC: An Adaptive Glare Suppression Algorithm Based on Regional Brightness Perception

Existing algorithms for enhancing low-light images predominantly focus on the low-light region, which leads to over-enhancement of the glare region, and the high complexity of the algorithm makes it difficult to apply it to embedded devices. In this paper, a GS-AGC algorithm based on regional luminance perception is proposed. The indirect perception of the human eye’s luminance vision was taken into account. All similar luminance pixels that satisfied the luminance region were extracted, and adaptive adjustment processing was performed for the different luminance regions of low-light images. The proposed method was evaluated experimentally on real images, and objective evidence was provided to show that its processing effect surpasses that of other comparable methods. Furthermore, the potential practical value of GS-AGC was highlighted through its effective application in road pedestrian detection and face detection. The algorithm in this paper not only effectively suppressed glare but also achieved the effect of overall image quality enhancement. It can be easily combined with the embedded hardware FPGA for acceleration to improve real-time image processing.

Inductive Metaphysics Versus Logical Construction—Russell’s Methods and Realisms in 1912 and 1914

In his 1912 book The Problems of Philosophy, Bertrand Russell advocates an indirect realism with regard to physical objects. Only two years later, in his book Our Knowledge of the External World and the paper “The Relation of Sense-Data to Physics”, he changes his method in philosophy. Instead of inferring the existence of physical objects, he now sets out to construct them out of sense-data. As I will argue in this article, the main argument from The Problems of Philosophy can be rationally reconstructed as an inference to the best explanation which infers to unobservable objects. The main motivation for the new approach in Our Knowledge of the External World, on the other hand, is to establish a more direct variant of realism, in particular because Russell became skeptical with regard to inferences to unobservable objects. As I will argue, the resulting theory of the physical world loses so much in simplicity that it becomes an unattractive alternative to his earlier position, and Russell’s reason for rejecting simplicity as a criterion of theory choice turns out to be inconsequential.

Evidence- based Policy and Decision-Making among Health Managers: A Case of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

Background: According to the importance of evidence-based policy-making in health scope, this study was conducted to investigate the present situation of decision-making among medical managers.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study carried out on all the managers worked in one of the hospitals, health centers, medical schools and central departments of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in 2016. A questionnaire containing demographic data and 50 questions was applied to 5 sections: attitude (9), subjective norms (13), perceived controlled behavior (22), intention (3) and behavior (3). Choronbache α was between 0.73-0.91 emphasizing a good reliability, the questionnaire`s content and face validity were 0.83 and 0.67 respectively. Data was analyzed using Independent t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation. Results: The greatest frequency of the respondents belongs to the men (77/85.1%), and the majority of the respondents were in an age range from 30 to 40 years. The highest mean score was related to the indirect attitude (8.17), and the lowest was obtained for the indirect perception (1.21). There was a statistical relationship between the mean score of direct and indirect controlled perceived behavior according to the participants’ educational level (P=0.03 and P=0.043, respectively). A significant relationship was also be observed between direct behavior and educational major (P=0.044). Pearson correlation indicates a significant positive relationship between the manager intention for evidence-based policy-making and all the other variables. Conclusion: It seems that the present situation of evidence-based decision-making is not appropriate for the university managers. In this regard, planning for the effective courses in knowledge translation, evidence-based policy-making and advanced searching along with monitoring the managers’ decision outcomes through an internal and external audit can have an effective role in improving decisions and enhancing evidence application. [GMJ.2017;6(1):30-38]

Mulla Sadra's Realism on The Principle of Ittihad al-'Aqil wa al-Ma'qul: A Response to Modern Realism

<span id="docs-internal-guid-6eb786c7-7fff-c73a-b069-03c5ca0fb7a1"><span>This article attempts to show Mulla Sadra’s model of realism by tracing it through his philosophical principles, especially the principle of </span><span>Ittihad 'Aqil wa Ma'qul</span><span> (subject-object unity). Furthermore, the study of the Sadra realism model, which is based on the principle of </span><span>Ittihad 'Aqil wa Ma'qul,</span><span> is presented to respond to fundamental epistemic-ontological issues, namely the relationship between the subject’s consciousness and external objects, in order to strengthen belief in the nature and existence of external reality, which is independent of contamination of the subject's mental decisions (mind-independent reality). How does the subject's consciousness relate to external objects? This problem is still an anxiety and has not been resolved by modern philosophers who focus on the discourse of perception, giving rise to various schools of realism, which are represented by two major schools: direct realism and indirect realism. By overcoming these epistemic problems, ultimately, this effort leads to the confirmation of Mulla Sadra's more original and comprehensive model of realism. This paper is attempted using a critical-analytical method, namely analyzing Mulla Sadra's philosophical ideas on the </span><span>Ittihad 'Aqil wa Ma'qul</span><span> principles and the views of modern realism by focusing on the issue of perception. The conclusions drawn from the results of the analysis of the </span><span>Ittihad 'Aqil wa Ma'qul</span><span> were used as a basis for responding to modern realism as well as an affirmation of Mulla Sadra's style of realism.</span></span>

Wheat zinc finger protein TaZF interacts with both the powdery mildew AvrPm2 protein and the corresponding wheat Pm2a immune receptor

Plant defense responses to pathogens are induced after direct or indirect perception of effector proteins or their activity on host proteins. In fungal–plant interactions, relatively little is known about whether, in addition to avirulence effectors and immune receptors, other proteins contribute to specific recognition. The nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) immune receptor Pm2a in wheat recognizes the fungal powdery mildew effector AvrPm2. We found that the predicted wheat zinc finger TaZF interacts with both the fungal avirulence protein AvrPm2 and the wheat NLR Pm2a. We further demonstrated that the virulent AvrPm2-H2 variant does not interact with TaZF. TaZF silencing in wheat resulted in a reduction but not a loss of Pm2a-mediated powdery mildew resistance. Interaction studies showed that the leucine-rich repeat domain of Pm2a is the mediator of the interaction with TaZF. TaZF recruits both Pm2a and AvrPm2 from the cytosol to the nucleus, resulting in nuclear localization of Pm2a, TaZF, and AvrPm2 in wheat. We propose that TaZF acts as a facilitator of Pm2a-dependent AvrPm2 effector recognition. Our findings highlight the importance of identifying effector host targets for characterization of NLR-mediated effector recognition.

Having a Cake and Eating It Too? Direct Realism and Objective Identity in Descartes

AbstractDescartes holds that ideas have or contain objective reality of their objects, so that the idea of the sun is the sun itself existing in the intellect. In this paper, I examine this obscure thesis which grounds the disagreement about Descartes’ commitment to direct or indirect realism. I suggest that, importantly, both readings are correct to a certain extent. I argue that the view of objective reality Descartes develops bears the earmarks of both direct and indirect realist views but must be classified as a third alternative combining some central features of both. I elaborate first on the direct realist interpretations of Descartes’ objective reality and explain their most significant shortcomings. My interpretation of objective identity comes in the form of attributing to Descartes a view about identity and persistence of objects known as sortalism. I argue that Descartes’ objective identity turns out to be much like the Aristotelian view of formal identity, yet without the forms. By way of discussing the case of Theseus’ ship, I point out how Cartesian sortalism, contrary to other versions of sortalism, allows us to analyze the puzzle as a tension between two distinct yet independently legitimate criteria of identity. It is this sortalist insight that helps to render Descartes’ account of objective identity consistent. This point also grounds my argument that we need not consider direct and indirect realism as logical complements, contrary to the received wisdom.

Russell and American Realism

American philosophical realism developed in two forms: “new” and “critical” realism. While the new realists sought to ‘emancipate’ ontology from epistemology and defended a direct theory of perception, the critical realists promoted a representationalist account of perception and thus argued for an epistemological dualism. Bertrand Russell’s early philosophical writings figured prominently in both of these American realist camps. However, while the new realists quite enthusiastically embraced the Russellian analytic style of reasoning (and Russell himself appreciated the American new realists as anti-idealist allies), the critical realists were significantly more reserved toward Russell’s point of view. In the present paper, I identify the reasons for this difference in reception. In particular, I will show that the critical realists’ reservations pertained primarily to a more traditionalist—‘continental’—account of philosophy, whereas the neo-realists proved instrumental in setting the stage for later full-blown analytic philosophy in the United States.

Fragmented and conflicted: folk beliefs about vision

Many philosophical debates take for granted that there is such a thing as ‘the’ common-sense conception of the phenomenon of interest. Debates about the nature of perception tend to take for granted that there is a single, coherent common-sense conception of vision, consistent with Direct Realism. This conception is often accorded an epistemic default status. We draw on philosophical and psychological literature on naïve theories and belief fragmentation to motivate the hypothesis that untutored common sense encompasses conflicting Direct Realist and Indirect Realist conceptions: there is no such thing as ‘the’ common-sense conception of vision that could enjoy epistemic default status. To examine this hypothesis, a survey administered an agreement rating task with verbal and pictorial stimuli to lay participants. We found many laypeople simultaneously hold conflicting Direct Realist and Indirect Realist beliefs about vision. Against common assumptions, Direct Realist beliefs are not clearly dominant, and consistent adherence to Direct Realism is not the norm, but the exception. These findings are consistent with recent accounts of belief fragmentation. They forcefully challenge common methodology in philosophical debates about the nature of perception and beyond.

한국전쟁기에 제작된 리얼리즘 극영화의 경향성 연구

<The Street of Sun>(1952) and <The Evil Night>(1952) have been regarded as representative realism films produced during the Korean War. Just as Italian Neorealism came about World War II, Korean realism films in the 1950s also appeared with the Korean War. <The Street of Sun>(1952) and <The Evil Night>(1952) depicted the everyday scenery of Korean society, And critics at the time called these films a work of (Neo)realism. In terms of narrative, <The Street of Sun> is similar to the realism films produced in Japanese colonial era, <Tuition>(1940) and <Angeles on the Streets>(1941). Since the filming of <The Evil Night> was conducted even before the outbreak of the Korean War, there were parts that did not fit the reality of the time. However, as director Shin Sang-ok recalls, <The Evil Night> borrowed Neorealistic styles and depicted various lower-class people. Therefore, most of the reviews evaluated <The Evil Night> as an exemplary (Neo)realism work. Critics took note of that the Italian film industry gained worldwide fame despite the difficult situation caused by the war. So they hoped that young Korean directors would create new trends such as Neorealism.

Learning to coach: An ecological dynamics perspective

A constraints-led approach (CLA), based on an ecological dynamics rationale for athlete learning and development has been applied to analyses of individual and team sports. To date, such an approach has yet to be applied to the learning of coaches. Here, we propose how applying a CLA in education and professional development programmes can shape emerging behaviours of coaches as they interact with constraints of representative environments to adapt their practice. A core concept within ecological dynamics for coach education is the conceptual differentiation between knowledge of (direct perception) and knowledge about (indirect perception) the environment. Current coach education and development practices focus primarily on the acquisition and transmission of knowledge about, which over-relies on provision of (abstract) verbal and visual augmented corrective information found in manuals. Reconsidering coaches’ behaviours as emerging under constraints provides a coach developer opportunities to identify and manipulate key individual, environmental and task constraints. This approach guides attention to relevant and alternative affordances (opportunities for action) when coaching, and promotes continuous self-regulation of coach learning, supported by an experienced mentor. Learning to coach through a CLA could result in an extensive appreciation of multiple sources of knowledge, resulting in a continuously deepening fit between the coach and their performance environment. An ecological perspective of a coach learning to adapt to the constraints of a performance environment offers an alternative to current formalised coach development practice.

More on realism, phenomenology, and causation, in reply to Cheng.

First, I agree with Cheng that the argument from illusions to indirect realism is controversial, especially as to what is meant by "realism," "veridical," and "sense data" and the background assumptions underlying them. I provide a finer specification of some of the sub-movements that were the specific concerns of my previous article, particularly phenomenology as it currently sees itself in perception research, and the relevance of illusions. Perception has turned out to be far more complex than traditional philosophy realized, as has been revealed by recent research in neuroscience and psychophysics. Lastly, I answer Cheng's question about the "causal exclusion argument" by suggesting it is obviated by the temporal substructure of metaphysical states, and I provide a detailed supporting case in Supplementary Material.

Revealing virtual visiting preference: Differentiating virtual and physical space with massive TikTok records in Beijing

With the growing penetration of information and communication technologies, social media platforms have become one of the most frequently used virtual spaces in daily life, producing spatiality with new logic and structure. However, few studies have examined the difference of visiting preferences in virtual space due to the lack of proper benchmarks constructed from physical space. The quantity of geo-tagged views, likes, comments, shares embedded in TikTok filming locations was used to measuring virtual and physical visiting activities (VVAs, PVAs), providing a perfect opportunity to clarify the virtual visiting differences. Built environment components are regarded as the objects of reference and their relationships with VVAs and PVAs were examined separately, and virtual visiting preferences were revealed as the following three main points: 1. VVAs are less associated with the built environment, due to people's indirect perception of physical elements. 2. Components that people are more familiar with in physical space and could shape impressive public city images, such as landmarks and urban nodes, are dramatically enhanced in virtual space. 3. Components that could be easily perceived in physical space but hard to present through visual medium, such as functional diversity, are far less critical in virtual space.