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    The human mind can only know the external world through s... — Carmelics
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Skepticism
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    The human mind can only know the external world through species (mental representations) that resemble external things.

    Perception
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Roger Bacon's theory holds that causal influence is transmitted through species multiplied from one thing to another.
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    • 2.A species is a likeness of its cause with a lesser or equal mode of being.
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    • 3.Applying this causal model to epistemology, perception of external things must proceed through intermediate mental likenesses.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.William of Ockham argues that the intellect can cognize external particulars directly via intuitive cognition without any resembling intermediary.
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    • 2.If direct acquaintance with a singular is possible, the species is an unnecessary ontological posit violating parsimony.
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    • 3.A resembling intermediary would make the external thing itself unknowable, since we would cognize the species rather than the thing it represents.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Thomas Reid demonstrates that resemblance is not a necessary condition for representation, since signs can represent without resembling their objects.
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    • 2.If a mental state can refer to an external thing through causal or functional relations rather than likeness, the species theory's resemblance requirement is unmotivated.
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    Topics

    SkepticismPerception

    Connections

    2 topics

    Causation2 linkedConsciousness & Mind1 linked

    Related

    A resembling intermediary would make the external thing itself unknowable, since...A species is a likeness of its cause with a lesser or equal mode of being.Applying this causal model to epistemology, perception of external things must p...If a mental state can refer to an external thing through causal or functional re...
    +4 moreShow less
    If direct acquaintance with a singular is possible, the species is an unnecessar...Roger Bacon's theory holds that causal influence is transmitted through species ...Thomas Reid demonstrates that resemblance is not a necessary condition for repre...

    Similar

    The only way the mind can know external things is through species that...93%Humans have no direct access to things in the external world and immed...85%Semantic externalism already assumes that the mind and world are linke...81%We do not really know what we are talking about when we refer to minds...81%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: crathorn
    View source passageHide passage
    The problem of knowledge is at the very heart of Crathorn’s thought. Going back to Roger Bacon, he held that the only way the human mind is able to know the external world is through species that resemble it (I Sent. q. 1, concl. 4). Bacon’s theory of the multiplication of species (multiplicatio specierum) was developed to explain causality using the model of optics. A thing c has an effect on another thing e through the multiplication of species s from c towards e, just as light is multiplied t
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    William of Ockham argues that the intellect can cognize external particulars dir...
    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit