An Introduction to PhilosophyFullerton, George Stuart
Philosophy
An Introduction to Philosophy
Fullerton, George Stuart
Philosophy
But what shall we say of his claim that the tree is really green, and
only looks blue under certain circumstances? Is it not just as true
that the tree only looks green under certain circumstances? Is color
any part of the touch thing? Is it ever more than a sign of the touch
thing? How can one color be more real than another?
Now, we may hold to Berkeley's analysis and maintain that, in general,
the real world, as contrasted with the apparent, means to us the world
that is revealed in experiences of touch and movement; and yet we may
admit that the word "real" is sometimes used in rather different senses.
It does not seem absurd for a woman to Say: This piece of silk really
is yellow; it only looks white under this light. We all admit that a
white house may look pink under the rays of the setting sun, and we
never call it a pink house. We have seen that it is not unnatural to
say: That tree is really green; it is only its distance that makes it
look blue.
When one reflects upon these uses of the word "real," one recognizes
the fact that, among all the experiences in which things are revealed
to us, certain experiences impress us as being more prominent or
important or serviceable than certain others, and they come to be
called _real_. Things are not commonly seen by artificial light; the
sun is not always setting; the tree looks green when it is seen most
satisfactorily. In each case, the real color of the thing is the color
that it has under circumstances that strike us as normal or as
important. We cannot say that we always regard as most real that
aspect under which we most commonly perceive things, for if a more
unusual experience is more serviceable and really gives us more
information about the thing, we give the preference to that. Thus we
look with the naked eye at a moving speck on the table before us, and
we are unable to distinguish its parts. We place a microscope over the
speck and perceive an insect with all its members. The second
experience is the more unusual one, but would not every one say: Now we
perceive the thing _as it is_?
21. ULTIMATE REAL THINGS.--Let us turn away from the senses of the word
"real," which recognize one color or taste or odor as more real than
another, and come back to the real world of things presented in
sensations of touch. All other classes of sensations may be regarded
as related to this as the series of visual experiences above mentioned
was related to the one tree which was spoken of as revealed in them
all, the touch tree of which they gave information.
Can we say that this world is always to be regarded as reality and
never as appearance? We have already seen (section 8) that science
does not regard as anything more than appearance the real things which
seem to be directly presented in our experience.
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