Perception and the External World

Common sense assumes that we perceive physical objects directly and that they are more or less as they appear. Philosophy quickly complicates this picture. When we consider illusions, hallucinations, the time light takes to reach us, and the way objects look different under different conditions, we are pressed to ask what we are immediately aware of in perception, and whether perception gives us reliable access to a mind-independent world. Three positions dominate the debate: direct realism, indirect realism, and idealism.

Direct (naive) realism

Direct realism, also called naive realism, holds that in ordinary perception we are directly aware of physical objects and their properties. When you see a tomato, the red, round tomato itself is the immediate object of your awareness, not some int