ABSTRACT
Let us take stock of the arguments for Critical Realism up to this point. In Chapters 1 and 2 we saw that there are good reasons for analysing perceptual experiences as containing two contrasting components. Experiences contain some form of conceptual activity, which accounts for the fact that we grasp what we are experiencing, and also for the intentional nature, or ‘directedness’, of perception. Experiences also have what is variously called a phenomenal, or sensory, component. This later component accounts for the fact that phenomenal qualities are immediately present, as actual elements in consciousness, in a manner that differentiates such perceptual experiences from purely representational states such as thought.
