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Sense-data

Vocabulary

Russell's term for the immediately experienced colors, sounds and other sensory qualities.

Explanation or usage

Russell distinguishes the sensory qualities a person immediately encounters from the physical object they are taken to reveal. A color appearance can vary with light or viewpoint while belief in a persisting object remains. This is part of a philosophical framework, not a claim that neuroscience has proved its ontology.

Common misunderstandings

Sense-data are necessarily identical to an object's intrinsic properties.

In The Problems of Philosophy

General context reviewed · book attribution and sources pending

A table's color appearance may vary with viewing conditions, while the physical table is inferred as a persisting object.

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Practice this item

In Russell's terminology, which is most directly an example of sense-data? After distinguishing sensory appearances from a physical table, which pair of questions does Russell investigate?