How naive realism can explain both the particularity and the generality of experience

French, Craig; Gomes, Anil

Abstract

Visual experiences seem to exhibit phenomenological particularity: when you look at some object, it–that particular object –looks some way to you. But experiences exhibit generality too: when you look at a distinct but qualitatively identical object, things seem the same to you as they did in seeing the first object. Naïve realist accounts of visual experience have often been thought to have a problem with each of these observations. It has been claimed that naïve realist views cannot account for the generality of visual experiences, and that the naïve realist explanation of particularity has unacceptable implications for self-knowledge: the knowledge we have of the character of our own experiences. We argue in this paper that neither claim is correct: naïve realism can explain the generality of experiences, and the naïve realist explanation of particularity raises no problems for our self-knowledge.

Citation

French, C., & Gomes, A. (2019). How naive realism can explain both the particularity and the generality of experience. Philosophical Quarterly, 69(274), 41–63. https://doi.org/10.1093/pq/pqy047

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 27, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Oct 13, 2018
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Aug 6, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 14, 2020
• Journal: Philosophical Quarterly
• Print ISSN: 0031-8094
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-9213
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 69
• Issue: 274
• Pages: 41–63
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/pq/pqy047
• Keywords: naive realism, visual experience, phenomenological particularity, phenomenal character, phenomenal nature
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/951497
• Publisher URL: https://academic.oup.com/pq/article/69/274/41/5129193
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the article , which has been published in final form athttps://academic.oup.com/pq/advance-article/doi/10.1093/pq/pqy047/5129193 . This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.