Theistic Phenomenalism: An Alternative Causal Theory of Perception

Abstract

When I seem to see my study and I also seem to see my desk in it, I am normally justified in inferring that all or most alert and enquiring beings who were in the mental state described by ‘I seem to see…’, where the dots are filled in by an exact description of the physical environment of my desk, would seem to see my desk. The question arises, then, as to whether, when I conclude that I am really seeing my desk in my study, this latter conclusion is, or should be taken to be, equivalent to the former conclusion. An affirmative answer to this question is made tempting by the argument of Chapter 6 that I cannot justifiably conclude that a mind-independent desk is the cause of my seeming to see my desk.