Ressell, Bertrand
Appearance and Reality
He begins his search for contrary, deductively. In the manner of Rene Descartes
Sense data:
Things immediately known to us in sensation, things live colour, sound, smell hardness, roughness etc.
Sensation
The experience of being immediately aware of the object of sense data eg. Colour, shape etc.
The main theme in this Russells analysis of the matter can be traced, as he admits, backs to the earlier enterprises, notably John Locke, Golfred Crebmitz, and George Berkely. They all at one point in time of their philosophical development,
approached the problem of the nature of matter or its reality.
John Locke:
Substance is something that we know not. He introduced the nation of primary and secondary qualities, that is on the difference between an object size, colour and shape on the one hand and the coplour, taste and smell on the other. For Locke, colour exists as an idea in the mind, size has to do with substance. This substance fir Locke, is the reality that exists ‘behind’ or under secondary qualities such as colour and therefore, it is independent of the mind.
Berkely, argued that size, shape and motion ‘abstract’ from all qualities, are inconceivable: what is a table? it is hard, red, rectangular, has some smell, etc.
All these qualities are idea in the mind that the table has the power to produce through senses. Thus, we feel its hardness, see its colour, either feel or see its rectangular shape, smell its fragrance etc. The existence of this qualities consists in their being perceived. Apart from these qualities, there is no senses reality. the table consists of all the qualities that we perceive; the table represents a complex of sensations. For Berkeley, it is impossible even to conceive of shape or size as independent of perception and therefore independent of secondary qualities. For Berkeley, both the object and the sensation are the same thing, and could not therefore be abstracted from...