Episode 138: John Searle on Perception (Part Two: Discussion)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

• Episode: Episode 138: John Searle on Perception (Part Two: Discussion)
• Website: The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
• Feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ThePartiallyExaminedLife
• Duration: 00:52:32
• Published: 2016-05-02 14:00

Mark, Wes, and Dylan discuss the interview with John in part one on Seeing Things as They Are: A Theory of Perception (2015) and try to sketch out the view and its potential problems in a little more detail. Doesn't Searle's idea of a "direct presentation" constitute an intermediary between us and things, no matter what he says? And likewise, if we have to construct the complex wholes that we actually perceive including all their cultural effluvia out of basic perceptions, what story can Searle tell that's really different from the constructivist views involving sense data that he's arguing against?