The Attribute of Realness and the Internal Organization of Perceptual Reality
Rainer J. Mausfeld · 2013
Notions of “reality” and “realness” can appear in contexts other than perception theory, notably in ordinary discourse, theoretical physics, and philosophy. Theoretical issues of perception theory that can be subsumed under the heading of “phenomenal realness” are more easily recognizable when people do not confuse them with issues associated with “realness” in other domains. In the context of psychological enquiries that aim at explanatory accounts of perception, the question arises as to the status of phenomenological observations. It is well known that the functional architecture of our brain almost completely hides the functioning of the perceptual system from our conscious experience. The attribute of phenomenal realness can, by definition, only be assigned to perceptual objects that are phenomenally expressed.