Art and Experience, Utrecht, © 1996. All rights reserved

Direct realism, in contrast with representationalism, ascribes direct contact with the objects that are perceived. The most crucial part of the explanation of direct realism should lie in perception's embodied nature. Puzzle cases are: the perception of a long gone star; perception through a mirror; and 'transparent' perception through a photograph. These puzzles are supposed to form a slippery slope argument proving the case that all perception is indirect, through a representation. To argue head-on against representationalism: supposing all perceptions are of a representation in our heads, then how are we to understand the disembodied nature of our perceptions of them--can we see the representation itself apart from its subject as is of the essence for all normal pictures that we know of. If we cannot--as I am certain that we cannot--then, following Ockham's razor, there is no sense in postulating such things. Cf. Walton, Friday, Dancy. (VIII:2)