Direct or Indirect Realism? Assessing Conflicting Folk Conceptions of Vision

Fischer, Eugen, Allen, Keith and Engelhardt, Paul (2026) Direct or Indirect Realism? Assessing Conflicting Folk Conceptions of Vision. Synthese. ISSN 0039-7857 (In Press)

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Abstract

Longstanding philosophical debates about the nature of perception revolve around a clash between Direct Realist and Indirect Realist conceptions of vision. These deny and affirm, respectively, that vision involves awareness of mental images which represent the physical objects of sight. The assumption that ‘the’ common-sense conception of vision is Direct Realist shapes these debates. Against this key assumption, recent studies in experimental philosophy have provided first evidence that laypeople are, collectively and often individually, torn between Direct Realist and Indirect Realist conceptions, and regard both as naïve. These findings raise a general methodological issue: Does agreement with two such patently incompatible conceptions reflect genuine beliefs? This paper crucially extends first findings, examines whether agreement ratings are indicative of beliefs, and offers an explanation of how the conflicting beliefs involved could be acquired and maintained. Three studies develop and validate the new Direct/Indirect Realist Belief Inventory (DIRBI) which uses agreement ratings with verbal and pictorial stimuli to assess the prevalence of the two conflicting conceptions among laypeople. Findings confirm that laypeople hold relevant beliefs and are, collectively and individually, torn between the two conceptions. We suggest these beliefs are ultimately anchored in ubiquitous implicit knowledge structures, namely, experiential event knowledge about vision and an implicit model of endogenous attention. We conclude that there is no such thing as ‘the’ common-sense conception of vision that could enjoy the epistemic default status accorded to common sense in many philosophical debates.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	naïve realism,direct realism,indirect realism,folk conceptions of vision,belief fragmentation,belief inventory validation,experimental philosophy,philosophy,experimental and cognitive psychology,4* ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1200/1211
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy and Area Studies Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > UEA Experimental Philosophy Group Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Wittgenstein
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	30 Mar 2026 09:31
Last Modified:	30 Mar 2026 09:31
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102632
DOI:	issn:0039-7857

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