Phenomenalism (redirected from Phenomenalists)

phenomenalism

View that statements about material objects are reducible to statements about actual and possible sensations, or sense-data. According to phenomenalists, a material object is not a mysterious something “behind” the appearances presented in sensation. If it were, the material world would be unknowable; indeed, the term matter is unintelligible unless it somehow can be defined by reference to sensations. In speaking about a material object, then, reference must be made to a very large system of possible sense-data, only some of which (if any) are ever actualized. Thus the statement “There is a fire in the next room” would be analyzed as a series of hypothetical statements such as “If one were to enter the next room with one's eyes open, one would see a bright light of a yellowish orange colour.” Some philosophers have objected that it is difficult to remove all references to material objects from the hypothetical statements to which material-object talk is supposedly reducible. See also George Berkeley.

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phenomenalism

Philosophy the doctrine that statements about physical objects and the external world can be analysed in terms of possible or actual experiences, and that entities, such as physical objects, are only mental constructions out of phenomenal appearances

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Phenomenalism 

a philosophical theory according to which the sole object of knowledge is the world of phenomena—the only reality accessible to man.

An extreme form of phenomenalism, tending toward solipsism, is represented by Machism, for example, or by the theories of G. Berkeley, according to which the world is seen as an aggregate of “ideas” or “complexes of sensations.” In its moderate form, phenomenalism is based on acknowledgment of the reality that lies beyond the world of phenomena; this reality, defined as “idea,” essence, or “thing in itself,” is not fully knowable in its “actual being.” Such traditionally idealist views are characteristic of skepticism and agnosticism. The tenets of phenomenalism are also closely related to those of positivism and neopositivism.

Phenomenalism is refuted by dialectical materialism, which holds that there is no insurmountable boundary between appearance and essence and that reality as the object of cognition is accessible through the phenomenon.