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The alternative to perspectivism is really some kind of latent absolutism. Because it is a very short step from asserting the 'observer-independent reality' of whatever you're looking at, to believing that there is 'one right view'. The notion of there being an 'independent' reality is really a wish for an absolute is it not? It is an attempt to secure our perceptions to 'what is really there', as distinct from what I might project or imagine? So your 'right-thinking person' will have a better grasp of 'what is really there'?
Well, no, because experience will suggest that the tracks are converging from one perspective, but are parallel from another.
I am interested in this idea of the 'observer-independent reality'. I think this is the subject of the OP. We assume that it exists and is kind of a touchstone for veridical judgement. We want to assume that the criteria for a veridical judgement is the degree to which our judgemet corresponds with what is actually there. Pragmatically it is a sure bet, but philosophically, there is still no way to show that the thing seen and the act of seeing it are ultimately distinguishable. Of course this argument has been underway since philosophy began so there will never be a slam-dunk answer to it.
Well, this is the issue for me. If the Ortega is attempting to cast doubt on the observer-independent existence of whatever is perceived, it would simply be another in a long line. The presentation of the conclusion, though, suggests a reason to believe there is no observer-independent existence, that reality is the sum of perceptions. And yet not only is this a poor conclusion, since the assumption (as opposed to proof) of objective existence would explain phenomena Ortega cannot, but it is not by any stretch actually shown so far as I can see.
But reading other texts on Ortega, the shift from proof of no 'authentic view' to proof of no unperceived existence seems omnipresent, seems unjustified and seems mistaken for the same proof.
Bones
Well, this is the issue for me. If the Ortega is attempting to cast doubt on the observer-independent existence of whatever is perceived, it would simply be another in a long line. The presentation of the conclusion, though, suggests a reason to believe there is no observer-independent existence, that reality is the sum of perceptions. And yet not only is this a poor conclusion, since the assumption (as opposed to proof) of objective existence would explain phenomena Ortega cannot, but it is not by any stretch actually shown so far as I can see.
But Ortega is not in the business of explaining phenomena. That is what you do. Ortega, being a philosopher, is a critic of experience. Not of phenomena. If he wanted to explain phenomena, he would sign up with the CERN team.
The persistent error that has hitherto been made is the supposition that reality possesses in itself, independently of the point of view from which it is observed, a physiognomy (1) of its own. Such a theory clearly implies that no view of reality relative to any one particular standpoint would coincide with its absolute aspect, and consequently all such views would be false. But reality happens to be, like a landscape, possessed of an infinite number of perspectives, all equally veracious and authentic. The sole false perspective is that which claims to be the only one there is. In other words, that which is false is utopia, non-localised truth, which "cannot be seen from any particular place." The utopian (and such is essentially the character of the rationalist) goes further astray than anyone, since he is the spectator who loses confidence in his own point of view and deserts his post (2)
But Ortega is not in the business of explaining phenomena. That is what you do. Ortega, being a philosopher, is a critic of experience. Not of phenomena. If he wanted to explain phenomena, he would sign up with the CERN team.
Well, no, because experience will suggest that the tracks are converging from one perspective, but are parallel from another.
I am interested in this idea of the 'observer-independent reality'. I think this is the subject of the OP. We assume that it exists and is kind of a touchstone for veridical judgment. We want to assume that the criteria for a veridical judgment is the degree to which our judgment corresponds with what is actually there.
Pragmatically it is a sure bet, but philosophically, there is still no way to show that the thing seen and the act of seeing it are ultimately distinguishable. Of course this argument has been underway since philosophy began so there will never be a slam-dunk answer to it.
Normally this line of thinking seems to point to solipsism - that 'the railway tracks are just a visual construction in my mind'.
But in addition to solipsism - everything I see is just an image generated in my mind- and realism - everything I see is an image of an objective reality - there is also the possibility that reality is the nexus of an indefinite number of individual perspectives. So in this sense 'mind' is not being depicted as 'my mind' but as a collective - 'the mind' or perhaps just 'mind'. So it is not as if I am saying 'this view exists in my mind' because the extent to which I consider the mind to be 'mine' indicates that at that moment, I am no longer considering the perspective, but the nature of 'my mind' in which it occurs. So at that instant, I am considering the thought of the perspective, not the perspective itself. So already the subject of the discussion has actually changed, if you see what I mean. But normally all of this happens - this change of focus - so quickly that we haven't noticed that the subject has changed.
(I am labouring through Merleau Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception at the moment. It is basically about this very question - all 530 pages of it. Still working on it...views subject to revision....)
:bigsmile: The last sentence being probably the one thing Kenneth and I agree on disagreeing with.
Do you agree, then with Ortega that the truth and reality of each inidivudal point of view is enough to show that there is no objective, observer-independent existence/truth?
While any vista is, in itself, complete, I doubt most people would disagree with the statement that that complete view is of only a part of reality, i.e. it is a complete survey of an incomplete entity.
It seems to me that if you recognise this, then there is scope for an objective complete reality. e.g. I see one side of a cube, you see another, if we both agree there are at least as many facets as there perspectives of the object being viewed then we have to conclude there is an objective reality containing all facets of all possible perspectives.
There is an objective complete reality, and Ortega would definitely agree, but what he is saying is that there is no way that anyone can observe this. Every perspective makes up this complete reality, but none can fully explain it considering its limitations.
Sorry it took me a while to comment, I am stuck in finals season.