Category Formation. Reification
75
some cultures, knowing unconsciously, “with the spirit”, is taken to be the
superior way.
This topic is central in the philosophy of Taoism. In the Chuang Tse, the
Prince of Wei notes how deftly his cook is cutting up a beef, and praises him.
The cook explains that when he started out in his vocation, he saw the whole
animal as one great task to be resolved, and perceived it part by part. Now
he doesn’t need to exercise his volition at all, because he has internalized the
entirety in his spirit. His senses no longer play a role, but his spirit acts of itself
according to the pattern of what’s before him.
Realism
Common sense leads us to assume that if we perceive the world to be divided in
a certain way into different objects, it’s because the world really is divided into
those very things: We believe that objects have fixed boundaries based on their
physical properties, and their physical boundaries determine the segmentation
of the world into separate things. As a result, there is a fixed number of objects
in the universe, and corresponding to those objects, a fixed number of features
and possible relationships between them.
This is a natural belief, and is the foundation for a philosophical position
known as direct realism. There are other, more flexible and finely-shaded forms
of realism, to be discussed later. But direct realism is the most natural and
deeply rooted way of thinking about nature—and is hard for most people to
relinquish. Along with it goes the belief that the external world is exactly as we
see it, its features are the very ones we discern—and the categories we recognize
in our environment are real things based on properties of the material world.
In a previous chapter we have already cast doubt on this belief. We have
discussed distal attribution—an aspect of perception in which animals project
onto the external world the visual objects constructed by the brain. We referred
to this as a “necessary deception”, because it would be very awkward if animals
perceived the world as images in their head. Instead, they experience the objects
they see as being in the external environment, where they’re assumed to belong.
Furthermore, while there is no doubt that solid objects have physical boundaries which separate one from another, every living species selects out of the
environment those things which are of interest and importance, and objectifies
them—that is, chooses them for recognition and special attention. In every
scene, awareness and attention are focused on those things, while all else is
backgrounded. Moreover, many objects do not have unambiguous boundaries
and are not entirely detached. Where does a leaf depart from its stem, where
75
some cultures, knowing unconsciously, “with the spirit”, is taken to be the
superior way.
This topic is central in the philosophy of Taoism. In the Chuang Tse, the
Prince of Wei notes how deftly his cook is cutting up a beef, and praises him.
The cook explains that when he started out in his vocation, he saw the whole
animal as one great task to be resolved, and perceived it part by part. Now
he doesn’t need to exercise his volition at all, because he has internalized the
entirety in his spirit. His senses no longer play a role, but his spirit acts of itself
according to the pattern of what’s before him.
Realism
Common sense leads us to assume that if we perceive the world to be divided in
a certain way into different objects, it’s because the world really is divided into
those very things: We believe that objects have fixed boundaries based on their
physical properties, and their physical boundaries determine the segmentation
of the world into separate things. As a result, there is a fixed number of objects
in the universe, and corresponding to those objects, a fixed number of features
and possible relationships between them.
This is a natural belief, and is the foundation for a philosophical position
known as direct realism. There are other, more flexible and finely-shaded forms
of realism, to be discussed later. But direct realism is the most natural and
deeply rooted way of thinking about nature—and is hard for most people to
relinquish. Along with it goes the belief that the external world is exactly as we
see it, its features are the very ones we discern—and the categories we recognize
in our environment are real things based on properties of the material world.
In a previous chapter we have already cast doubt on this belief. We have
discussed distal attribution—an aspect of perception in which animals project
onto the external world the visual objects constructed by the brain. We referred
to this as a “necessary deception”, because it would be very awkward if animals
perceived the world as images in their head. Instead, they experience the objects
they see as being in the external environment, where they’re assumed to belong.
Furthermore, while there is no doubt that solid objects have physical boundaries which separate one from another, every living species selects out of the
environment those things which are of interest and importance, and objectifies
them—that is, chooses them for recognition and special attention. In every
scene, awareness and attention are focused on those things, while all else is
backgrounded. Moreover, many objects do not have unambiguous boundaries
and are not entirely detached. Where does a leaf depart from its stem, where