TWO MAJOR ATTITUDES TOWARDS REALIST REPRESENTATION

Descartes and Pascal can serve as two reference points for two major attitudes towards conscious representation of the world:

The notion of consciousness presupposes that all perceptual representations are always already interpreted (mediated) by the mind (reason, emotion, memory, imagination). In the cases of Descartes and Pascal, perception is always already interpreted by reason.

A. Realist Representation is accurate:

Descartes:

Consciousness accurately perceives and rationally comprehends as its object a part of the world of nature and man. It can rationally comprehend the world because the world is ordered rationally.

Beginning with this consciousness of a part of the world, science can build a rational representation of the whole world of nature and man that is accurate.

B. Realist Representation is always inaccurate:

Pascal:

Consciousness perceives and rationally interprets as its object a part of the world.

But consciousness can understand this object, this "part," only in relation:
1) to the whole of the world, of which the object is a part;
2) to the parts that make the object up as a whole.

However, the whole of the world, of which the object is part, is infinitely large. And the parts that make up the object as a whole are infinitely small.

As a result, consciousness and reason cannot understand the world, since it is not organized rationally.

Science’s rational representation of the world of nature and man is always in error.