Clear and Distinct Perception in the Stoics, Augustine, and William of Ockham

Abstract There is a long history of philosophers granting privileged epistemic status to cognition directly present objects. In this paper, I examine three important historic accounts which provide different models cognitive state and its connection with objects: that the Stoics, who are corporealists think ordinary perception may have an epistemically status, but seem struggle accommodate non-perceptual cognizance; Augustine, thinks incorporeal objects us in ‘intellectual perception’, that, by way contrast, sense-perception does not status; William Ockham, allows for unmediated action at distance fairly generous about what counts as being present.