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Presidential Address
807
it has contributed largely—though unconsciously towards resuscitating its old adversary. "To say that you see a star when you see the light that has come from it is' says Russell, "no more correct than to say that you see New-Zealand when you see a NewZealander in London. Your perception when (as you say) you see a star is causally connected, in the first instance, with what happens in the brain, the optic nerve, and the eye, then with the light-wave which, according to Physics, can be traced back to the star as its source.. Your sensation will be closely similar if the light comes from a lamp at the top of a mast. The physical space in which you believe the "real" star to be is an elaborate inference; what is given is the private space in which the speck of light you see is situated. This illustrates what I mean by saying that what you see is not "out there" in the sense of Physics." Now add to this scientific fact the truths revealed by the principle of Relativity which has abolished one cosmic time and one persistent space, and has laid stress on the subjective conditions of the observer's mind as a factor in perception, and the ruin of the commonsense faith in Realism would seem to be complete. Consequently, the so-called new Realism may, in truth, be called Scientific Idealism to distinguish it from Kant's Critical Idealism and Hegel's Absolute Idealism; or to take it at its word, it may be characterised as Sensationalism, which is only 'half-brother' to Idealism.
Let us cast a glance on Russell's theory of Reality and his theory of Perception, and see how -far this chacterization is-justified. “Everything in
