Nousheen Samuel 1

Nousheen Samuel (905067)

PHI 300 - Leadership and Ethics
Dr. Osam Edim
8th September, 2008
Summary of Bertrand Russell’s

“Appearance and Reality”

The theme of Bertrand Russell’s “Appearance and reality” revolves around the idea of

arousing the human intellect to question knowledge embedded in the mind through the senses,

and to critically think about the authenticity or reality of what the senses convey. It is an attempt

to dissuade the mind from taking appearances for granted and seeking truths beyond the natural

world. Human beings have the habit of seeing reality through the veil of appearances which is

built by the senses. It is hard to imagine what lies beyond the veil and how much conformity

exists between the veiled truth and the naked truth. Russell uses philosophy as a tool to explore

the differences, and in some cases, the conflux between appearance and reality. He begins by

searching his immediate experiences as source of knowledge about the world by depicting

himself as seated in front of a table. The reality of the present experience seems obvious to him

until someone with a completely different perspective comes on the scene and raises doubts

about what Russell is experiencing. To demonstrate this, he uses the color attribute of the table.

Though the generic color is unanimously agreed upon by most observers, the precise details of

the table’s color vary based on the point from which the table is viewed. At this point, Russell

emphasizes the importance of precision of color to painters and creates a contrast between the

philosopher and the painter in the sense one is interested in reality and the other in appearance.

He also shows that the color of the table is dependent on additional factors such as the light being

reflected by the object as well as the observer’s eyesight. Color blind people fail to see the color
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visible to normal spectators and blind people see nothing but darkness. He applies the same

notion of variation of appearance with perspective to attributes such as texture and shape of the

table. The shape of the table constantly changes as one moves from one point to another and the

texture depends on which part of the body is pressed against the table and how hard it is pressed.

We begin to see that there are as many appearances as the number of observers perceiving the

table and it would be unfair to consider one perspective as more real over another. Based on

these observations, Russell concludes that the true nature of table is hidden from us and what we

perceive is basically a result of the sense-data being sent to our mind. By sense-data, he means

all the various attributes of the table such as color, shape and texture that are sent to the mind.

The major problem in the sensations produced by the sense-data is that one can not understand if

any relation exists between the table and the sense-data. Here two major questions arise; if the

table is unknown to us then how can we be sure that there is a real table? And if so, then what is

the true nature of the table? Russell eventually applies these questions to all matter.

In the quest for an answer to these questions, Russell considers the arguments of idealist

philosophers such as Bishop Berkeley and Leibniz. Berkeley in Three Dialogues between Hylas

and Philonous, in Opposition to Sceptics and Atheists shows us that doubting the existence of

matter is not illogical. Berkley argues that matter does not really exist; he believes that all non-

mental objects are nonentities and what we perceive as matter is an idea in the mind of God.

Leibniz advocates that the existence of matter depends on it being perceived by some mind or a

collection of minds. However, one thing that both agree on is that matter does exist; be it an idea

in the mind of God or a collection of minds. Here we get the answer to our first question from a

philosophical point of view. Yes there is a real table. The occurrence of sense-data that produces

different sensations in different individuals, points to the existence of something that is

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responsible for generating the sense-data and exists independently of the sensations produced by

the object. However, the second question remains unanswered as one begins to see that the true

nature of the table can not really be known in the philosophical context. Russell also

momentarily considers the scientific point of view which tells us that the table is a collection of

electric charges in violent motion. He does not discuss the implications of this theory however.

It seems that the first question in the essay is completely uncalled for. Even though every

observer in the room may have a different perspective on the table, they all have a perspective to

present which shows that they all perceive an object in one way or another. Thus questioning

whether the table exists seems like an unnecessary complication. The nature of the table is

indeed questionable as there are so many different appearances presented to an observer by the

sense data. The presence of sense-data indicates the existence of a source that generates the

sense-data. This source is not really affected by the various perspectives as it seems to be hidden

from the observer even though it creates data that is either unique to each observer or is uniquely

interpreted by each observer.

Russell does not really reach a conclusion regarding the question of the existence and

nature of the table as he also considers the element of doubt which could cause one to disregard

the philosophical as well as the scientific point of view. It seems that Russell’s intent was merely

to trigger the mind of the reader to see how philosophy –questioning everything- can make us

doubt what we see as reality and make the world around us seem strange and intriguing even in

the most common areas of life. This in essence elevates our mind and increases our awareness of

the world around us. Russell also wants us to understand that philosophy does not really provide

answers to all our questions.

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References

• Russell, Bertrand (1912), Problems of Philosophy. Home University Library, London.