- representationalism
-
—representationalist, n. —representationalistic, adj./rep'ri zen tay"sheuh nl iz'euhm, -zeuhn-/, n.1. Also called representative realism. Epistemology. the view that the objects of perception are ideas or sense data that represent external objects, esp. the Lockean doctrine that the perceived idea represents exactly the primary qualities of the external object.2. Fine Arts. the practice or principle of representing or depicting an object in a recognizable manner, esp. the portrayal of the surface characteristics of an object as they appear to the eye.[1895-1900; REPRESENTATIONAL + -ISM]
* * *
Theory of knowledge based on the assertion that the mind perceives only mental representations of material objects outside the mind, not the objects themselves.The validity of human knowledge is thus called into question because of the need to show that such images accurately correspond to the external objects. The doctrine, still current in certain philosophical circles, has roots in Cartesianism, the empiricism of John Locke and David Hume, and the idealism of Immanuel Kant.* * *
Universalium. 2010.