Indirect realism, also known as indirect perception, and epistemological dualism, is the view in cognitive psychology that perception functions via internal representations of external reality. It is sometimes considered to be the same as representationalism. Indirect realism is problematical because of Ryle's regress and the apparent need for a homunculus. These problems have led some philosophers to abandon realism and suggest the existence of dualism and others to propose, or suggest through emergentism, that some form of new physics is operating in the brain such as quantum mind, space-time theories of consciousness etc.

See also

• Consciousness
• Direct realism
• Perception
• Philosophy of perception
• Representation
• Representationalism

Perception