The Sense-Data Delusion

Abstract

This thesis project considers the philosophy of perception and the idea of empirical knowledge to guide understanding of those perceptions as veridical or non-veridical. It defines and discusses the concept of sense-data as it bears on perception. Individual’s perceptions can and do differ and we are challenged to go beyond what we actually perceive, beyond what constitutes the information that our senses – seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling – provide to determine the truth. This fact has been thought to present a ground for arguments challenging the validity of our perceptual knowledge. Apart from physiological questions about the way our senses function and psychological questions about learning, feelings, or expectations, the question that could be called “the question” of the philosophy of perception is this - what is it we perceive?