Theories of perception attempt to find an answer to how we see, interpret, and ultimately perceive the world around us-- or not around us. These theories try to make sense of why we perceive what we perceive, how we perceive what we perceive, and what we are actually perceiving whether it be that we are directly perceiving everything in the world or that there is nothing in the world at all. Both of these ideas are popular theories of perception accepted and critiqued by many philosophers. Two specific and intriguing theories are the theory of indirect realism, or rationalism, and the theory of phenomenalism, or idealism. Indirect realism consists of physical objects existing independently of our awareness causing sense data representing the object we perceive directly. Through this theory, we do not perceive things directly; however, we perceive them through sense data which occurs in your mental state but the sense data does reflect the physical object in the real world for what it really seems like. For example, if a person looks at a red chair they are not directly perceiving that red chair but interpreting it through their senses and creating a picture in their mind. One of the simplest and strongest argument supporting rationalism is referred to as the argument from illusion. This argument states, in reference to the article “Sense Data” by Michael Huemer, that we perceive some physical objects differently than they are in the real world, “sensory
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