The AskPhilosophers logo.

Perception

Telescopes and microscopes do not enlarge reality, they only enlarge images of reality. Everything seen through a lens is an image of reality, not reality. But our eyes have lenses, so everything we see is only an image of reality. Can this be true?
Accepted:
January 14, 2006

Comments

Peter Lipton
January 15, 2006 (changed January 15, 2006) Permalink

Perception is not ingestion: when you see a tree, the tree does not enter your brain. Moreover, seeing does involve the creation of an image on the backs of your eyes. But it does not follow that you only ever see an image. Maybe an analogy to a photograph will help. A photograph of a tree is an image; but it is not a photograph of an image, it is a photograph of a tree. Similarly, seeing a tree may involve an image of the tree, but what we see is the tree, not the image.

  • Log in to post comments
Source URL: https://askphilosophers.org/question/827
© 2005-2025 AskPhilosophers.org