Preproceedings 2006 - Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society

5. Conclusion
We briefly glanced at two points of view on the influence of
the mind on perception. One of them goes back to
Descartes and presupposes that mind and body are
absolute independent, because perception fulfilled by the
body is free from the mind’s influences. The second view
was founded in the philosophy of science by Francis
Bacon, who showed that we do not become free from the
influences of the mind when we perceive. The first position
considers the perception as reflection, or copy of reality,
the second one acknowledges that perception always
depends on former experience, available knowledge and
so on.
Both positions have some followers and, to sum up,
let me once again name some corollaries of acceptance
for one or the other position.
Perception as mirrowreflection
The scientific fact is
reliable evidence
The truth value of a
proposition can be
established by the
confrontation with
experience
A single statement can be
justified
The meanings of some
names are established by
ostension
Senses are objective and
different speakers can
grasp the same senses
and transmit a given
thought to other speakers
Two Viewpoints On Perception: Possibility of Dialog - Anna Storozhuk
Perception as action
The scientific fact is a
subject of the historical
development.
The truth value of a
proposition depends on the
observation conditions.
holism
Indetermination of ostension
Indetermination of
perception by data
Indetermination of theory be
the facts
The results of recent scientific investigations give
arguments in support of Bacon’s view on the influence of
the mind on perception. This position is not appreciated by
some philosophers because to explain the mechanism of
the influence it is necessary to take a whole series of
arbitrary assumptions. The physiology and psychology
data allow us to throw light on the mechanism although
many gaps still remain.
The basic part of philosophical concepts is defined
with the assumption that perception is a representation of
reality. Although the viewpoint that perception is active has
been finding more and more followers lately, and many
philosophers have been making important remarks about
theory-ladenness, a systematic analysis of the observation
concept has yet to be carried out.
* With support of the Grant of President of Russian
Federation MK-1650. 2005. 6.
References
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Fleck, L. 1979 Genesis and Development of a Scientific fact.
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Hanson, N.R. 1958 Patterns of Discovery. Cambridge.
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Quine, W.V. 1951 “Two dogmas of empiricism”, Philosophical
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Radder, H. 1996 In and About the World: Philosophical Studies of
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Russell, B. 1997 An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth. London.
Tarski, A. 1956 The concept of truth in formalized languages, in:
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Translated by J.H. Woodger. Oxford.
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