AS Philosophy- Direct Realism

Direct Realism

'DR'- Believe that what we see, hear or smell is exactly as the way that we perceive. This means that we perceive objects directly. Because they are exactly what we think they are. They also believe that objects exist independent of our minds, therefore if a tree falls and no-one is there to hear it, DRs would say the tree would still make a sound.

However... Even though this seems like common sense, there are problems for example;

• Hallucinations- We know that what we are 'perceving' is not the way the hallucination is. This is because the whole point of a hallucination is to trick us and our senses. HOWEVER, a direct realist would say that our 'sense data' (which is our senses) are tricking us which means these then do not count.
• A stick bent in water- When a stick is bent in water, it will appear to be bent, even though we know it isnt. This would show that we…