Helmholtz's "The Facts of Perception" Analytical Essay by Shaad

This essay examines Helmholtz's essay "The Facts of Perception" in order to clarify its arguments. The author's central thesis is presented as follows: all human perception is a process of learning. In other words, Helmholtz is opposed to the nativist view that knowledge is acquired directly. Descartes dualism and the British school of empirical skepticism is briefly discussed in this regard. It is shown that Kant denies nativism, yet insists on the a priori faculties that allow for the intuition of space and time. Helmholtz's essay is then described as principally a critique of Kant's "limited nativism". This is followed by an explanation of Helmholtz's conception of sense perceptions as "signs". The writer then discusses how the author uses this concept to refute nativism. The related concepts of "circles of quality" and "unconscious inferences" are also explained. It is then shown how Helmholtz refutes Kant's notion of space as an a priori intuitive faculty, using the concept of "conscious innervations". Finally, it is shown how "signs" pertain to the regularity in nature, and therefore direct towards higher truths.