Sireice Edwards

Dr. Kola Abimbola

Metaphysics

February 11, 2016

Nave Realism: Therefore it is False

Before one could understand naive realism, one must understand the concept of realism.

Realism is the idea that something exists outside of our minds, but some believe that realism is

deeper than that. Michael Dummet explained, A dispute over a realism may be expressed by

asking whether or not there really exist entities of a particular type... or, again, it may be asked,

not whether they exist, but whether they are among the ultimate constituents of reality, meaning

some people believe that existence is not the only form of real (77). To some, reality defines real.

If something exists, but is not in ones reality, it is not real, therefore, real is perceived. One must

also understand navet. Naivet is lack of knowledge or wisdom; to be nave is to lack

perception.

Nave realism, also called direct realism or common sense realism, is the idea that what

one extracts from ones senses is what is real. It is the theory that claims that we perceive things

as they really are all the time. If one were to perceive what everyone else perceives as a book as

a lion, then to that person, a lion is what is real. To everyone else, a book would be what is real.

Not only would the book and lion be real, but what you would perceive in it would also be real.

So, not only what is said of is real, but what is present in is real as well. Every category of being

in which is sensed or perceived would be real. These categories include the primary substance

(the book or lion), quantity (size or amount of books or lions), relation (where the book or lion is
compared to another object), place, date, posture (how it is situated), state (having about), action,

and passion (what is being done to it). Not only is the lion real, but the golden color of the lion

and the size of the lion are real as well.

Nave realists also believe that perceptions can also change over time. If one sees a book

in the morning and a lion at night, the object shifted from book to lion throughout the day,

although it is just their perception that has change. Both, the book and the lion would still be real

in this situation.

Nave realism can be verified through the idea that reality is so complexed that

contradicting perspectives can both be right. If one sees a lion, while the other sees a book,

because reality is so complexed, the object can be both a book and a lion. Reality is too

complexed to narrow anything down to one way of existing.

Nave realism allows for multiple perceptions to be real. English philosopher P. F.

Strawson explained that, It is simply a part of direct realism to allow variation in perspective

(AQA philosophy). It allows contradicting statements to be true meaning both, the person who

saw the book and the person who saw the lion, to be right, which is a good thing for the

individuals. Unfortunately, this is a bad thing for humanity as groups. Humans tend to be

egocentric and believe that their perspective is the true perspective and should be the only

perspective. This causes conflicts within groups of people. For example, last year there was a

picture of a dress that went viral. Some people saw the dress as blue and black while other

people saw it as white and gold. Although the difference in perspectives was caused by the

lighting of the picture and the dress was, in fact, blue and black, social media was filled with

arguments built on no real logic, just egocentric views.

 Representative realism, however, is the idea that the world is not at all how we see it.

Representative realists believe that we do not perceive things directly as they are. We sense the

world as it is because the objects in the physical world send signals and cause our minds to

perceive them a certain way. Everything that we sense are mental perceptions rather than the

representation of the actual thing. For example, if one perceives something as a book, it is only in

ones mind. The object sends a signal to the mind to cause that person to perceive the object as a

book. The qualities of an object, however, is not directly perceived by the person, but rather

within the object itself. For example, if one sees the book as blue, blue is within the book and the

book sends a signal to the mind to make the person perceive it as such.

If we were to take the ten categories from above and apply it to representative realism,

the categories would be broken down into 3 subcategories: primary, secondary and tertiary. The

primary subcategory would be the actual object in existence. The secondary subcategory would

be the powers that the object has on the mind, which is the same power that forms our minds

perception. The tertiary subcategory would be the physical effect that the object has on the other.

Idealism opposes both nave and representative realism. Idealism can best be defined

through Bishop Berkeleys words as, esse est percipi, or to be is to be perceived. Idealists

believe that as long as something can be sensed or imagined, it exists. For example, W. V.

Quines imaginary, opposing philosopher, McX, believed that since we can imagine Pegasus,

Pegasus must exist. Quine explains, If Pegasus were not we should not be talking about

anything when we use the word; therefore it would be nonsense to say even that Pegasus is not.

Thinking to show thus the denial of Pegasus cannot be coherently maintained, [concluding] that

Pegasus is (179). Trying to deny something that is in ones mind is to prove it. One cannot think
of something that is not, without thinking of it as is. Idealism is the theory that mind is what is

real rather than matter or the perception of matter.

Therefore, if we were to take the philosophical question, If a tree falls in a forest and no

one is around to hear it, does it make a sound, the answer would differ between each theory. If

an idealist, such as McX, were to answer this question, their answer would be yes because they

can imagine the sound that it makes, meaning it must exist. If a representative realist were to

answer this question, their answer would be no because the tree did not affect a mind, therefore

there was no sound. Lastly, if a nave realist were to answer the question, their answer would also

be no because they were not there to hear it. Since, a nave realists believes that their perspective

is the only and correct perspective, anything that they do not sense themselves would not be real.

Nave realism cannot exist because the world is far too complex to only have one real.

There are also far too many people, each with a different perspective, to have only one reality.

Nave realism is created from egocentrism and cancels out every other perspective in ones mind,

also proving the existence and importance of mind. Mind is the only perspective of each person.

Nothing can exist without ones mind, proving that anything in ones mind is within existence.

The only way to disprove a subject is to think about it, which proves its existence. What is real is

our mind and our mind only consists of what is real. In the words of Bishop Berkeley, What is

mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind.

Nave realism if true, is false; therefore it is false

 Works Cited

"AQA Philosophy - Naive Realism." YouTube. Ed. AngelWivABentHalo. YouTube, 8 Apr. 2009. Web.

11 Feb. 2016.

Crane, Tim, and Katalin Farkas. Metaphysics: A Guide and Anthology. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.