Abstract
In the essay I first argue that Albert ofSaxony's defense of perceptual ``directrealism'' is in fact a forerunner of contemporaryforms of ``process reliabilist''epistemologies. Second, I argue that Albert's defenseof perceptual direct realism has aninteresting consequence for his philosophy oflanguage. His semantic notion of `naturalsignification' does not require any semanticintermediary entity called a `concept' or`description', to function as the directsignificatum of written or spoken termsfor them to designate perceptual objects. AlthoughAlbert is inspired by Ockham's mentalact theory, I conclude that Albert seemsto be striking out in a very new direction.
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Fitzgerald, M.J. The Medieval Roots of Reliabilist Epistemology: Albert of Saxony's View of Immediate Apprehension. Synthese 136, 409–434 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025117406833
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025117406833