Perception leads to Idealism - Prof Howard Robinson

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In this episode I speak to Professor Howard Robinson, who is a research fellow in philosophy at Oxford University. Our discussion centres around his recent book 'Perception and Idealism' which can be found here: https://global.oup.com/academic/produ...

In this episode we discuss theories of perception, why matter should be rejected in favour of idealism, and why this eventually leads to a Berkeleyan kind of theistic idealism where God is the source of our experience and the divine lawmaker. (Although, as noted below, some of this content is only on the extended version). I hope you enjoy!

#thinkthrough #howardrobinson #idealism


--------- Video Contents ---------

0:00:00 - Introduction
0:00:39 - The main puzzle of perception
0:02:22 - Naive realism
0:03:45 - Representational realism
0:06:39 - Phenomenalism and idealism
0:08:45 - Where current academics sits on perception
0:13:30 - Problems with naive realism
0:20:45 - Problems with representational realism
0:23:20 - Robinson's idealist sense-data theory
0:32:09 - Solving perceptual variation and hallucinations
0:37:20 - How thought creates the world
0:40:53 - Aristotle vs Kant on structure
0:43:17 - How phenomena relate to their structure
0:48:33 - Nominalism, natural structure, and middle sized dry goods
0:54:03 - Perception, judgement, and truth
0:57:16 - The regress argument against matter

Content in the extended episode (for members only):
*1:04:12 - How idealism solves the regress
*1:10:52 - Arguments for idealism
*1:16:15 - The (un)reality of space
*1:23:06 - The problem with panpsychism
*1:33:12 - The nature of laws
*1:38:54 - God as divine lawgiver
*1:44:21 - God's role in theistic idealism

Link to extended episode:    • EXTENDED: Perception leads to Idealism - P...  

____Channel description____

I am a graduate of Cambridge University with a PhD in Philosophy. My thesis was on the nature of truth, and I specialise in metaphysics, logic, and the history of analytic philosophy. I believe philosophy should be made accessible to the curious and philosophers have a duty to reenter the public debate on the questions of importance to our age. This channel is my attempt to do that!

On a personal level, I am a lucky husband, and proud father of two young boys that keep me very much grounded!