Filósofos modernos como Berkeley y Hume desplegaron una argumentación de corte escéptico en contra del llamado realismo ingenuo: la idea de que la experiencia perceptual provee un accesodirecto al mundo. Dicha argumentación ha sido criticada por Michael Martin y John Campbell, quienes reclaman justicia por una nueva forma de realismo ingenuo llamado relacionalista. Se argumenta que tanto el realismo ingenuo como el relacionalista son falsos, y se defiende la tesis central de Berkeley y Hume: no hay experiencias perfectamente (...) verídicas de objetos materiales. (shrink)

The objective of this paper is to analyse the concept of skilful action underlying the studies of perceptual experience, especially the visual one, from the perspective of the theory of direct perception. The problem we propose to investigate can be formulated as follows: what are the possible contributions of the concept of affordance to understand the nature of skilful actions generally attributed to processes resulting from internal representations or mental models? In particular, we will try to investigate to what (...) extent the concept of social affordance can help to understand aspects of complex skilful actions that involve capacities considered as deriving from the possession of a Theory of Mind. We will try to show that the perspective of the ecological psychology of direct perception allows to understand aspects of human skilled action, especially of a collaborative nature, from a conception of perceptual experience that involves information intrinsically significant. (shrink)

En este artículo se critica la forma en quePeacocke defiende la tesis de que laexperiencia tiene un contenido noconceptual.En particular, se argumentaquela apelación de Peacocke a la idea dequeel contenido no-conceptual de laexperienciaes mucho más fino que elcontenidoconceptual, no funciona.Finalmente,se sostiene que ladependenciade un objeto percibido conrespectoal contexto perceptual en el cualsepercibe, y la dependencia de unapropiedadpercibida con respecto alobjetoen el cual es percibida son rasgosmásrelevantes para la tesis de que elcontenidoperceptual de la experiencia esno-conceptual.In this paper I (...) criticize the way in which Peacocke defends the thesis that experience has non-conceptual content. In particular, I argue that Peacocke’s reliance on the idea that the experience’s non conceptua lcontent is far more subtle than conceptual content, does not work. Lastly,Ihold that the dependence of a perceived objectfrom the perceptual context inwhichsuch an object is perceived, and thedependenceof a received property from the object in which it is perceived are more relevant features for the thesis that the perceptual content of experience is non-conceptual. (shrink)

Nuestro interés en el contenido mental no-conceptual es, principalmente, la articulación de una versión sustantiva (no-trivial) de esta clase de contenido en la experiencia perceptual. El debate acerca del contenido no-conceptual ha girado, en su mayor parte, alrededor de su existencia; y los argumentos que se han ofrecido en su favor abogan por una versión no sustantiva según la cual el contenido no-conceptual es aquel que no satisface ciertos requisitos conceptuales. Así, para desarrollar una versión sustantiva del contenido (...) mental no-conceptual hemos apelado a la versión de la experiencia perceptual de propiedades espaciales ofrecida por Evans (1982 cap. 6). A partir de esto desarrollamos un nuevo argumento a favor del contenido no-conceptual de la experiencia perceptual que lo vincula a la actividad característica de la experiencia perceptual. Por último, exponemos uno de los ataques de McDowell (1996) a la noción de contenido no-conceptual y presentamos nuestras réplicas a este ataque, mostrando su insuficiencia. Al mostrar que la crítica de McDowell no es exitosa, consideramos que podríamos tener una versión del contenido no-conceptual de la experiencia que es inmune a esta línea de argumentación. (shrink)

Em seu ensaio Avoiding the Myth of the Given, McDowell traz uma nova caraterização do conteúdo da experiência perceptual e do modo que tal conteúdo torna possível ao sujeito conhecer. Esta nova caraterização tem sido acusada de gerar uma “ansiedade pluralista”. Escopo deste artigo é reconstruir os problemas que, segundo Corti, surgem a partir da virada argumentativa do filósofo, assim como avaliar se McDowell tem à disposição recursos conceituais para esquivar-se às críticas. Para isso, contamos com a seguinte estrutura (...) de texto: 1. reconstruiremos em detalhe a posição revisada de McDowell acerca da experiência perceptual tal como ela foi exposta em AMG; 2. reconstruiremos o argumento de Corti acerca da possibilidade de que a nova posição de McDowell implique no surgimento de uma “ansiedade pluralista”; 3. discutiremos se é possível fornecer uma interpretação da posição de McDowell que ofereça uma saída para tal ansiedade. (shrink)

: This commentary focuses on the scientific status of perceptual projection-a central feature of Pereira’s projective theory of consciousness. In his target article, he draws on my own earlier work to develop an explanatory framework for integrating first-person viewable conscious experience with the third-person viewable neural correlates and antecedent causes that form conscious experience into a bipolar structure that contains both a sense of self and a sense of the world. I stress that perceptual projection is a psychological (...) effect and list many of the ways it has been studied within experimental psychology, for example in studies of depth perception in vision and audition and experiences of depth arising from cues arranged on two-dimensional surfaces in stereoscopic pictures, 3D cinemas, holograms, and virtual realities. I then juxtapose Pereira’s explanatory model with two other models that have similar aims and background assumptions but different orientations, Trehub’s Retinoid model, which focuses largely on the neural functioning of the visual system, and Rudrauf et al’s Projective Consciousness Model, which draws largely on projective geometries to specify the requirements of organisms that need to navigate a three-dimensional world, and how these might be implemented in human information processing. Together, these models illustrate both converging and diverging approaches to understanding the role of projective processes in human consciousness. Resumo: Este comentário enfoca o status científico da projeção perceptiva - uma característica central da teoria da consciência de Pereira. Em seu artigo alvo, ele recorre ao meu trabalho anterior para desenvolver uma estrutura explicativa para integrar a experiência consciente visível em primeira pessoa com os correlatos neurais visíveis de terceira pessoa e as causas antecedentes que formam a experiência consciente em uma estrutura bipolar que contém tanto um sentido de eu e um sentido do mundo. Enfatizo que a projeção perceptiva é um efeito psicológico e relaciono modalidades de seu estudo na psicologia experimental, por exemplo em estudos de percepção de profundidade em visão e audição, experiências de profundidade em superfícies bidimensionais em imagens estereoscópicas, cinemas 3D, hologramas e realidades virtuais. Eu então justaponho o modelo explicativo de Pereira com dois outros modelos que têm objetivos e suposições similares, mas orientações diferentes, o modelo do sistema retinóide de Trehub, que se concentra principalmente no funcionamento neural do sistema visual, e o modelo de consciência projetiva de Rudrauf et al., que estabelece raciocínios geométricos para especificar os requisitos de organismos que precisam navegar em um mundo tridimensional, e como eles podem ser implementados no processamento de informação no contexto humano. Juntos, esses modelos ilustram abordagens convergentes e divergentes para compreender o papel dos processos projetivos na consciência humana. (shrink)

This paper criticizes the predominant, representational-neurophysicalist conception of sensory perception. It introduces the notion of "experience-field" to give a tentative ontological account of the phenomenological data of experience. The general idea is that visual experience, for instance, would be ontologically something like an experience-field extending over and between the central nervous sistem of the subject of the experience and the distal object of vision. I call this position phenomenological macrorealism, in contrast to scientific microrealism. Phenomenal qualities are not subjectively inside (...) the brain, but objectively inside perceptual extraencephalic experience-fields, or, as we say, out there in the world. Some specific consequences of phenomenological macrorealism are presented.Este artigo critica a concepção predominante, representacionista-neurofisicalista sobre a percepção sensorial. Introduz a noção de "campo-experiência" na tentativa de tratamento ontológico dos dados fenomenológicos da experiência. A idéia geral é que a experiência visual, por exemplo, seria ontologicamente algo assim como um campo-experiência de intencionalidade visual, que se estende por sobre e entre o sistema nervoso central do sujeito da experiência e o objeto distai da visão. Chamo esta posição de macrorrealismo fenomenológico, em contraste com o microrrealismo científico. Qualidades da fenomenalidade não estão subjetivamente dentro do cérebro, mas objetivamente dentro de campos-experiência perceptuais extra-encefálicos, ou, como dizemos, lá fora no mundo. Algumas conseqüências específicas do macrorrealismo fenomenológico são apresentadas. (shrink)

In this paper I provide a conceptualist answer to Crane’s waterfall illusion argument in the representationalist debate about the type of content of perceptual experience. First, I analyze the general structure of the argument, according to which the putatively contradictory content of certain optical illusions shows that perceptual experiences have non-conceptual content. Second, I discuss some conceptualist answers to the argument in order to show why they are not satisfactory. Finally, I offer a conceptualist answer, that I call (...) “dissociative”, according to which the content of the waterfall illusion is not actually contradictory. (shrink)

Las sensaciones constituyen el mayor obstáculo para dar una explicación satisfactoria de la mente en términos no mentales, y se distinguen por la manera como se sienten, esto es, por sus qualia o su carácter fenoménico, que se resiste a ser explicado y que hace patente el hiato entre lo físico y lo mental. Pero, ¿en qué consiste este aspecto de las sensaciones? ¿Lograremos alguna vez dar cuenta de él adecuadamente? Éstas son dos de las preguntas fundamentales que se discuten (...) en los doce artículos de este volumen, los cuales, en particular, se sitúan en el debate actual sobre los problemas que los qualia presentan a las teorías fisicalistas, funcionalistas e intencionalistas de la mente. En el primero, las compiladoras ofrecen un panorama general de la discusión contemporánea en torno a las sensaciones y su carácter fenoménico; los demás son textos centrales en esta discusión, de T. Nagel, C. McGinn, F. Jackson, D. Lewis, G. Harman, N. Block, J. Fodor, M. Tye, D. Dennett y S. Shoemaker. (shrink)

Abstract. Classical constructivists such as Rock and Hoffman contend that the processes of perception are intelligent and construct perceptual experience by going beyond the stimulus information or by creating a percept that deviates from the physical properties of the object. On these terms, Gibson’s theory of perception is anti-constructivist. After reviewing classical constructivism, this article maintains, first, that the phenomenology of visual space shows a deviation from physical spatial properties, by being contracted in depth, even under full cue conditions, (...) a fact that makes trouble for Gibson’s version of direct realism. Second, independently of the first argument, it contends that perception is pervasively constructed in the sense that stimulus information must be transformed to yield perception. Accordingly, perception is radically constructed in its very bones. (shrink)

RESUMEN En el siguiente texto se intentará dilucidar si acaso es posible hacer la experiencia de las cosas en su momento no temático ni objetivo con los recursos que aporta la nueva fenomenología, en particular, los propios de las obras de Marion y Maldiney. Con este fin, se interrogará la fenomenalidad propia de los objetos, para luego avanzar hacia el examen de dos experiencias privilegiadas buscando dilucidar lo que significa e implica hacer el encuentro de las cosas a-temáticamente, esto (...) es: la mirada estética y la experiencia de la sorpresa. ABSTRACT The following paper will attempt to elucídate if it is possible to make the experience of things neither in its thematics nor objective perceptual moment, through the use of some resources provided by the new phenomenology, in particular, those that are found in Marion's and Maldiney's philosophical works. To achieve this, on the one hand, we will investigate the proper phenomenality of objects, on the other, we will research two privileged experiences to understand what it means and implies to make an a-thematical encounter of things, namely: the aesthetics view and the experience of surprise. (shrink)

El proceso creativo en el diseño en general resulta ser una parte fundamental de su hacer. En su interior, cobija fases, protocolos particulares, diagnósticos, desarrollos conceptuales y, por ende, la integración de información que recoge aspectos asociados a las experiencias particulares, a contextos diversos y a las condiciones propias de enunciación de los creadores y sus productos. En dicho proceso, el error y la posibilidad de anticipar un resultado o una respuesta son el insumo para atender creativamente una problemática y, (...) formular, desde lo extraordinario, lo diferente o lo novedoso la respuesta. Y es desde estos adjetivos que se pretende estudiar la construcción de sentido como la columna vertebral que nutre el proceso creativo y lo fortalece desde el primer momento del proceso de diseño. Este artículo se propone plantear algunas posibilidades de interpretación del proceso creativo desde una perspectiva semiótica y filosófica, haciendo un recorrido por un repertorio conceptual proporcionado por el pragmatismo peirceano y las teorías semióticas. Para ello, en la primera parte se expone la importancia que tiene la experiencia sensorio perceptual y la necesidad de reconocer el error y lo alótopo como conceptos fundamentales para romper la uniformidad como ley universal. En segundo lugar, se busca establecer el momento de conexión ente leyes físicas y psíquicas desde tres miradas semióticas para comprender el lugar que tiene la experiencia en la construcción de sentido. Y, finalmente, se desarrolla la idea de anticipación como parte de una estructura temporal que subyace de modo natural en el proceso creativo. (shrink)

En este artículo se presentan algunas consideraciones relativas al debate sobre si el contenido de la experiencia perceptiva es o no conceptual. En particular, se pretende formular una crítica general al proyecto conceptualista de John McDowell apelando a algunas de sus asunciones de fondo –asunciones relativas a los requisitos que toda teoría sobre la relación entre percepción y juicio ha de cumplir, y que en su caso le conducen a considerar necesaria la tesis de que los contenidos de la (...) percepción son conceptuales. Se argumentará que la postura desarrollada por Husserl en Erfahrung und Urteil ofrece una alternativa en la cual se cumplen aquéllos requisitos sin necesidad de apelar a conceptos en el nivel de los contenidos perceptivos. Finalmente, se sugerirá que la perspectiva genética husserliana permite ofrecer un retrato de la experiencia perceptiva que, a diferencia del de McDowell, permite respetar ciertas intuiciones que parecen relevantes acerca de la misma.In this paper I present some considerations on the debate about whether the contents of perceptual experiences are conceptual or not. In particular, I intend to formulate a general critique to John McDowell’s conceptualist project appealing to some of its background assumptions –assumptions regarding the requirements that any theory about the relation between perception and judgment should meet, and which lead him to take as necessary the thesis that the contents of perception are conceptual. It will be argued that the stance expounded by Huserl in Erfahrung und Urteil offers an alternative in which those requirements are met without the need to appeal to concepts at the level of the contents of perception. Finally, I will suggest that the Husserlian genetic perspective, unlike McDowell’s stance, ends up offering a picture of perceptual experience that can accommodate certain intuitions about it that seem relevant. (shrink)

A pesar de toda la plausibilidad del externalismo en relación al significado lingüístico, la cuestión crucial es la de cómo el externalismo se enfrenes a nuestras intuiciones cartesianas mas profundas sobre el contenido de la experiencia consciente. La tradición cartesiana respecto a la experiencia consciente parece invulnerable al análisis externalista porque las propiedades fenomenológicas de los estados conscientes sitúan el lugar de la experiencia enteramente dentro del sujeto de la misma, y la bacen exclusivamente dependiente de él. (...) Un externalismo consecuente y consistente acerca de la mente requiere un argumento sobre la experiencia consciente paralelo al desarrollado sobre el significado. En este trabajo, se examina críticamente un argumento elaborado por Martin Davies a favor de la compatibilidad del externalismo con la idea de la existencia de un contenido no-conceptual en la experiencia perceptiva consciente, el contenido perceptual de los estados mentales en cuanto son experimentados por criaturas conscientes. (shrink)

Resumo: Abordo, neste artigo, a forma pela qual o representacionismo perceptual compreende a tese da transparência, comprometendo-a, principalmente, com uma concepção indireta da experiência perceptual. Defendo, a partir de uma análise das perspectivas de Fred Dretske e Michael Tye, que é possível vincular-se representacionismo e a tese da transparência com uma concepção direta da experiência perceptual, cujo conteúdo é singular.Abstract: In this paper, I intend to review the way in which perceptive representationalism understands the thesis of transparency (...) and its commitment to an indirect conception of perception. From an analysis of the perspectives of Fred Dretske and Michael Tye, I argue for the possibility of relating representationism and the thesis of transparency to a direct conception of perception. (shrink)

Estoy interesado en indagar ¿cómo es que nuestros pensamientos demostrativos dependientes directamente de la experiencia son acerca de ciertos objetos materiales? ¿Cuál es, y cómo es la relación entre un estado mental y cierto objeto material cuando el primero es acerca del segundo? Esto es, ¿en qué consiste que el pensamiento demostrativo refiera a un objeto material? ¿Cómo es que nuestros pensamientos demostrativos acerca del mundo material se refieren a objetos del mundo material? Creo que existen dos maneras muy (...) generales de responder a esta pregunta, y cada una de estas maneras depende de la versión de la teoría de la mente que se tenga. Por un lado, existe una versión Fregeana de la mente, según la cual existen modos de presentación que delinean la forma de la mente y que determinan cuáles son los objetos acerca de los cuales la mente tiene pensamientos. Existe otra versión más científica de la mente la cual llamo No-Fregeana, según la cual no existen modos de presentación que determinen acerca de cuáles cosas la mente tiene pensamientos, sino más bien son las relaciones causales (quizá desarrolladas evolutivamente) que existen entre clases de cosas y clases de estados mentales las que determinan acerca de cuáles objetos la mente tiene pensamientos. Lo que deseo hacer es mostrar por qué creo que el tratamiento no-Fregeano de la pregunta no da una explicación satisfactoria de cómo es posible que una mente pueda tener pensamientos demostrativos verdaderos acerca de objetos materiales. Mis reparos tienen que ver con la manera como conciben la conexión entre la mente y el mundo para que el pensamiento sea posible. (shrink)

En el presente artículo discuto algunos aspectos normativos de la experiencia perceptual considerando las contribuciones de Wittgenstein a dicho tópico en la Segunda Parte de las Investigaciones filosóficas. En estos pasajes, Wittgenstein critica las explicaciones fisiológicas causalistas de Wolfgang Köhler así como la perspectiva empirista representacional acerca de la percepción sensorial. Estas consideraciones le permiten mostrar que la interpretación juega un rol relevante en ciertos casos de percepción visual. Al respecto, propondré, primero, un modo de extender este modelo (...) a casos generales de percepción visual de objetos, generalmente establecidos por la expresión “Veo esto”. Segundo, examinaré las ventajas comparativas de esta posición respecto de la alternativa parcial, que consiste en restringir las consideraciones de Wittgenstein solo para el caso de “lo veo como…”. (shrink)

El presente ensayo busca, principalmente, acceder de modo crítico a la interrogante de si acaso los contenidos de las experiencias perceptuales son estructurados y compuestos por conceptos de un modo análogo a actitudes proposicionales como la creencia y el deseo; para así establecer y transparentar dos argumentos –la importancia del factor contextual y la condición de re-identificación– que se constituyen, en cierta medida, como un obstáculo para la postura conceptualista. Ambos argumentos suponen una problemática a la visión que enfatiza que (...) en todos los casos el contenido de una experiencia perceptual contiene necesariamente conceptos que especifican a cabalidad cada uno de los elementos disponibles a nivel consciente durante dicha experiencia al mismo tiempo, es decir, la visión que asevera que el contenido de las experiencias perceptuales es irremediablemente conceptual, y que estos conceptos son capaces de detallar y especificar las propiedades y los objetos dispuestos en la experiencia perceptual. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem o objetivo de discutir criticamente posições representacionistas e antirepresentacionistas no que se refere à experiência perceptual – ao mesmo tempo em que procura tomar posição em favor da primeira em detrimento da segunda. Tendo como ponto de partida o chamado “Debate entre John McDowell e Charles Travis”, pretendemos, no intuito de contornarmos as pressões antirepresentacionistas de Travis, defender aquelas que poderiam ser duas noções de ver como/que : de um lado, a ideia mcdowelliana de que (...) conteúdos pensáveis podem figurar na experiência perceptual; de outro, uma proposta fenomenológica, que entende o conteúdo representacional da experiência perceptual em termos de seu significado. (shrink)

In The Logic of Scientific Discovery Karl Popper rejected psicologism, i. e., “the doctrine that statements can be justified not only by statements but also by perceptual experience”. According to him, this doctrine founders on the problem of induction and of universals. “For we can utter no scie..

El pasaje de la Física ha llevado a postular un concepto de tiempo determinado por las condiciones perceptivas de la psyche. Se muestra cómo las condiciones de percepción son un punto de partida en la investigación: lo que es primero y más cercano a los sentidos y más conocido para los seres humanos. El punto de llegada es la conexión necesaria entre la existencia del tiempo y la del cambio. La percepción del cambio de los durmientes de Cerdeña permite determinar (...) los elementos que componen la experiencia del tiempo y proceder a determinar aquellos que componen la existencia de este. Passage 218b21-219a of Aristotle's Physics has led to the formulation of a concept of time that is determined by the perceptual conditions of the psyche. The paper shows that the conditions for perception, that which is prior, closer to the senses, and better known by human beings, are just the starting point for the investigation. The point of arrival is the necessary connection between the existence of time and change. The perception of change in the case of the sleeping Sardinian heroes makes it possible to determine those elements involved in the experience of time and, subsequently, those that make up the existence of the same. (shrink)

Resumo O propósito deste texto é mostrar que os problemas enfrentados por Merleau-Ponty, ao longo de seu percurso de pensamento, decorrem dos pressupostos dicotômicos dos quais ele parte. Assim, procuramos trazer à tona outras consequências de se assumir tal pressuposto, o do primado de uma experiência perceptiva muda como solo natal de todas as outras modalidades da experiência. Para tanto, tomam-se em consideração tanto a primeira como a segunda fase do pensamento de Merleau-Ponty.Our purpose is to show that the problems (...) faced by Merleau-Ponty throughout his path of thought arise from the dichotomous assumptions from which he begins. Thus, we seek to shed light on the other consequences of assuming a presumption such as the primacy of a mute perceptual experience as the native soil of all other experience’s modes. Therefore, the first as well as the second phases of Merleau-Ponty’s thought are taken into account. (shrink)

Resumen: El presente artículo se propone examinar la clausura del concepto benjaminiano de aura como noción válida para pensar la experiencia estética contemporánea. En este sentido, un primer objetivo consiste en rehabilitar tal concepto, cotejando su definición en el famoso ensayo sobre la reproductibilidad técnica con las diversas formulaciones que el mismo Benjamin elabora al respecto en otros ensayos, en los que la gravitación del aura se desplaza desde una cualidad objetiva, anidada en la obra misma, hacia una facultad (...) perceptual y memoriosa que organiza su experiencia histórica. A partir de lo anterior, un segundo objetivo consiste en pesquisar las huellas de un presunto modelo de historiografía del arte que Benjamin esboza en una carta dirigida a Florens Christian Rang y que afina en su ensayo sobre Eduard Fuchs. Establecidos los lineamientos de este modelo, el artículo concluye que el concepto de aura no remite tanto a una datación de origen de la obra de arte, circunscribiendo exclusivamente sus condiciones de producción, sino a las coordenadas variables en las que cada época recupera para sí una obra de arte determinada. Esta recuperación, imantada por el mecanismo de las correspondances, donde la singularidad de una obra de arte hace sistema con una situación histórica determinada, permite comprender finalmente el aura como un modo de experiencia de las imágenes del arte.: The following work attempts to examine Walter Benjamin’s concept of aura as a valid notion for thinking about contemporary aesthetic experience. In this regard, our first goal is to rehabilitate this concept, comparing its definition in the famous essay on technical reproducibility with other formulations developed by Benjamin in essays such as a “A short history of photography”, “The storyteller”, and “On some motifs in Baudelaire”, in which aura is not understood as an objective quality pertaining to the work of art itself, but as the perceptive and mnemonic faculty organizing its historical experience. Our second goal is to locate the traces of a model for the historiography art, which Benjamin outlines in a letter written to Florens Christian Rang and which he refines in his essay on Eduard Fuchs. Within this context, the article concludes that the concept of aura does not refer to a work of art’s time of origin, but to the variable coordinates that allow each epoch to make its own experience of that work of art. Through the mechanism of correspondences, by which a work of art’s singularity matches with a specific historical situation, we are able understand aura as a mode of experience of the images of art. (shrink)

Resumo O propósito deste texto é mostrar que os problemas enfrentados por Merleau-Ponty, ao longo de seu percurso de pensamento, decorrem dos pressupostos dicotômicos dos quais ele parte. Assim, procuramos trazer à tona outras consequências de se assumir tal pressuposto, o do primado de uma experiência perceptiva muda como solo natal de todas as outras modalidades da experiência. Para tanto, tomam-se em consideração tanto a primeira como a segunda fase do pensamento de Merleau-Ponty.Our purpose is to show that the problems (...) faced by Merleau-Ponty throughout his path of thought arise from the dichotomous assumptions from which he begins. Thus, we seek to shed light on the other consequences of assuming a presumption such as the primacy of a mute perceptual experience as the native soil of all other experience’s modes. Therefore, the first as well as the second phases of Merleau-Ponty’s thought are taken into account. (shrink)

This paper criticizes the predominant, representational-neurophysicalist conception of sensory perception. It introduces the notion of "experience-field" to give a tentative ontological account of the phenomenological data of experience. The general idea is that visual experience, for instance, would be ontologically something like an experience-field extending over and between the central nervous sistem of the subject of the experience and the distal object of vision. I call this position phenomenological macrorealism, in contrast to scientific microrealism. Phenomenal qualities are not subjectively inside (...) the brain, but objectively inside perceptual extraencephalic experience-fields, or, as we say, out there in the world. Some specific consequences of phenomenological macrorealism are presented.Este artigo critica a concepção predominante, representacionista-neurofisicalista sobre a percepção sensorial. Introduz a noção de "campo-experiência" na tentativa de tratamento ontológico dos dados fenomenológicos da experiência. A idéia geral é que a experiência visual, por exemplo, seria ontologicamente algo assim como um campo-experiência de intencionalidade visual, que se estende por sobre e entre o sistema nervoso central do sujeito da experiência e o objeto distai da visão. Chamo esta posição de macrorrealismo fenomenológico, em contraste com o microrrealismo científico. Qualidades da fenomenalidade não estão subjetivamente dentro do cérebro, mas objetivamente dentro de campos-experiência perceptuais extra-encefálicos, ou, como dizemos, lá fora no mundo. Algumas conseqüências específicas do macrorrealismo fenomenológico são apresentadas. (shrink)

Muchos filósofos piensan que los contenidos perceptuales son siempre generales y que no deben especificarse utilizando términos singulares. Ellos creen que los objetos /propiedades distales no constituyen esencialmente los contenidos perceptuales. Argumentaré que esta estrategia es insatisfactoria al especificar contenidos e incapaz de dar cuenta de una intuición común, según la cual la veracidad de nuestras experiencias perceptuales no es algo evaluable con independencia de si percibimos o no. Finalmente, sugeriré una alternativa "singularista" en la que los objetos distales sí (...) entran en los contenidos, haciendo de las percepciones y las alucinaciones dos tipos de experiencia fundamentalmente diferentes. Many philosophers think that perceptual contents are always general and shouldn´t be specified using singular terms. They believe that distal objects and properties don't essentially constitute perceptual contents. I will argue that this strategy doesn't provide a satisfactory account of content specification and fails to make sense of the common-sense intuition that the veridicality of our perceptual experiences isn't something fully independent of whether we perceive or not. Finally, I will suggest an alternative "singularist" standpoint in which distal objects do enter into visual contents, making perceptions and hallucinations fundamentally different types of experiences. (shrink)

Muchos filósofos piensan que los contenidos perceptuales son siempre generales y que no deben especificarse utilizando términos singulares. Ellos creen que los objetos /propiedades distales no constituyen esencialmente los contenidos perceptuales. Argumentaré que esta estrategia es insatisfactoria al especificar contenidos e incapaz de dar cuenta de una intuición común, según la cual la veracidad de nuestras experiencias perceptuales no es algo evaluable con independencia de si percibimos o no. Finalmente, sugeriré una alternativa "singularista" en la que los objetos distales sí (...) entran en los contenidos, haciendo de las percepciones y las alucinaciones dos tipos de experiencia fundamentalmente diferentes. Many philosophers think that perceptual contents are always general and shouldn´t be specified using singular terms. They believe that distal objects and properties don't essentially constitute perceptual contents. I will argue that this strategy doesn't provide a satisfactory account of content specification and fails to make sense of the common-sense intuition that the veridicality of our perceptual experiences isn't something fully independent of whether we perceive or not. Finally, I will suggest an alternative "singularist" standpoint in which distal objects do enter into visual contents, making perceptions and hallucinations fundamentally different types of experiences. (shrink)

Os principais objetivos do presente artigo são: a) rememorar os precedentes e explicar os desdobramentos do conceito de psicodelia através da história da filosofia; b) apresentar as evidências que definem como psicodélico não apenas o efeito de substâncias transformadoras da mente, mas também um conjunto integrado de práticas místicas, um espectro amplo de estados conscienciais e um movimento contracultural de natureza libertária; c) identificar as aproximações possíveis entre a filosofia e a psicodelia a partir do horizonte da estética visionária, da (...) fenomenologia perceptual, da epistemologia consciencial, das éticas da resistência, das políticas da liberdade e da metafísica originária; e d) interpretar o reflorescimento do pensamento psicodélico como filopsicodelia, ou seja, uma análise das ideias filosóficas a partir da experiência psicodélica e uma descrição da experiência psicodélica a partir dos conceitos filosóficos. (shrink)

É crescente e plural o interesse filosófico em relação à dimensão afetiva da vida e da experiência humana. Dentre estes interesses destacam-se os recentes e variados esforços em compreender a natureza das emoções, especialmente em sua relação com diversas questões filosóficas envolvendo a agência humana. Na linha destes esforços soma-se a proposta de Goldie que consiste em um duplo movimento de, por um lado, apresentar um amplo e variado conjunto de fenômenos que precisam ser apreciados por quaisquer teorias da emoção, (...) e, por outro, identificar em que medida as teorias da emoção mais prestigiadas fazem justiça àquela riqueza e complexidade fenomênica. O resultado deste duplo movimento é o diagnóstico crítico de que as teorias da emoção até então mais prestigiadas, a não-cognitivista, a cognitivista e a perceptual são deficitárias desde o ponto de vista explicativo. Curiosamente, apesar de ter reservado uma posição e função decisivas para a afetividade em meio ao projeto de elaboração da ontologia fundamental, o nome de Martin Heidegger não consta nas atas de boa parte dos atuais debates das filosofias da emoção, inclusive no já mencionado diagnóstico crítico de Goldie. O objetivo central deste trabalho consiste em apresentar em linhas gerais a fenomenologia da afetividade conforme desdobrada por Heidegger ao final da década de vinte. Mais especificamente, procura-se mostrar de que maneira a dimensão afetiva em geral, e o humor e as emoções em particular, possuem um caráter de abertura eminentemente revelador, o que inclusive justifica, desde uma perspectiva meta-filosófica, a sua inclusão junto ao programa da ontologia fundamental. (shrink)

ABSTRACT: In this paper, I intend to review the intentionalist account of perceptual experience in order to deal with some difficulties that it faces in adequately specifying the nature and object of perceptual experience. My aim is to show that it is possible for the intentionalists to incorporate the disjunctivist thesis that the object of perception is part of perceptual experiences, without renouncing the common factor principle. I argue that, in order to do this, it is necessary (...) to engage with the concept of biological function and to review the concept of a perceptual object. RESUMO: Este artigo visa a abordar algumas das dificuldades que o intencionalismo perceptivo enfrenta, ao especificar a natureza da experiência perceptiva e o objeto da percepção. Meu objetivo é mostrar que o intencionalista pode incorporar a tese associada ao disjuntivismo de que o objeto da percepção é parte da experiência perceptiva, sem abrir mão do princípio do fator comum. Eu defendo que, para fazer isso, é necessário recorrer ao conceito de função biológica e realizar uma revisão do conceito de objeto da percepção. (shrink)

Resumo O propósito deste texto é mostrar que os problemas enfrentados por Merleau-Ponty, ao longo de seu percurso de pensamento, decorrem dos pressupostos dicotômicos dos quais ele parte. Assim, procuramos trazer à tona outras consequências de se assumir tal pressuposto, o do primado de uma experiência perceptiva muda como solo natal de todas as outras modalidades da experiência. Para tanto, tomam-se em consideração tanto a primeira como a segunda fase do pensamento de Merleau-Ponty.Our purpose is to show that the problems (...) faced by Merleau-Ponty throughout his path of thought arise from the dichotomous assumptions from which he begins. Thus, we seek to shed light on the other consequences of assuming a presumption such as the primacy of a mute perceptual experience as the native soil of all other experience’s modes. Therefore, the first as well as the second phases of Merleau-Ponty’s thought are taken into account. (shrink)

Identifico la naturaleza y el estatus epistémico de un sub-tipo de intuiciones lingüísticas que llamo intuiciones icónicas (IIs). Por medio de estas intuiciones, los hablantes son capaces de detectar correspondencias icónicas consistentes entre formas lingüísticas y significados. En primer lugar, identifico los principales rasgos del fenómeno lingüístico detectado por las IIs: el sonoro-simbolismo. Las correspondencias en las cuales consiste son icónicas porque están conformadas por diferentes tipos de semejanzas percibidas o asociaciones basadas en similitudes entre estímulos -uno de los cuales (...) es lingüístico. Luego analizo las principales caracterizaciones filosóficas y psicológicas alternativas de las intuiciones, y su rol evidencial, centrándome en las intuiciones lingüísticas. Sobre estas bases, concluyo que las intuiciones tendrían que ser concebidas como un constructo heterogéneo. En segundo lugar, argumento que las IIs no son ni creencias, disposiciones a la creencia, juicios o pareceres intelectuales con contenidos proposicionales, sino más bien pareceres perceptuales. Ellas consisten en la capacidad o sensibilidad para detectar correspondencias o asociaciones icónicas. En otras palabras, los inputs sonoros “rastrean” directamente los significados transmitidos por ellos. Se caracterizan por su peculiar fenomenología presentacional y su componente evaluativo. Ahora bien, de acuerdo al tipo de contenido y de procesamiento cognitivo involucrado, se puede distinguir entre las más puramente perceptuales, basadas en procesos asociativos y aquella que involucran experiencia acumulada, procesos analíticos y manipulación conceptual. Después de revisar la literatura psicolingüística experimental basada en intuiciones acerca del sonoro-simbolismo, argumento que las IIs son intuiciones de primer nivel, y como tales, una fuente confiable de evidencia directa y prima facie acerca de los rasgos icónicos en el lenguaje. Finalmente, argumento que estas IIs ofrecen una “ventana” privilegiada para explorar las relaciones entre lenguaje y percepción (y afecto/emoción). Concluyo argumentando que esta clase de intuición es un input no prescindible para la reflexión filosófica y la investigación científica sobre el lenguaje. Así, aunque defiendo la relevancia de las intuiciones para entender el significado lingüístico, las IIs no son de la misma clase ni requieren los mismos métodos para estudiarlas que aquellas que interesaron más a los filósofos. (shrink)

Recent evidence from cognitive neuroscience suggests that certain cognitive processes employ perceptual representations. Inspired by this evidence, a few researchers have proposed that cognition is inherently perceptual. They have developed an innovative theoretical approach that rests on the notion of perceptual simulation and marshaled several general arguments supporting the centrality of perceptual representations to concepts. In this article, I identify a number of weaknesses in these arguments and defend a multiple semantic code approach that posits both (...) perceptual and non-perceptual representations. (shrink)

Pragmatist responses to skepticism about empirical justification have mostly been underwhelming, either presupposing implausible theses like relativism or anti-realism, or else showing our basic empirical beliefs to be merely psychologically inevitable rather than rationally warranted. In this paper I defend a better one: a modified version of an argument by Wilfrid Sellars that we are pragmatically warranted in accepting that our perceptual beliefs are likely to be true, since their likely truth is necessary for the satisfaction of our goal (...) of effective agency. On the version of the argument I defend, the great good for human life of control over our empirical circumstances renders our goal of effective agency reasonable. But only if our perceptual beliefs are likely to be true—and only if we accept that this is so, assuming it as a premise for inference and a guide for action—will the success of our actions be due to our effective agency, not mere luck. Since we’re warranted in taking the necessary means to our reasonable ends, we’re warranted in accepting that our perceptual beliefs are generally justified, and so that skepticism about empirical justification is false. (shrink)

Expertise is a cognitive achievement that clearly involves experience and learning, and often requires explicit, time-consuming training specific to the relevant domain. It is also intuitive that this kind of achievement is, in a rich sense, genuinely perceptual. Many experts—be they radiologists, bird watchers, or fingerprint examiners—are better perceivers in the domain(s) of their expertise. The goal of this paper is to motivate three related claims, by substantial appeal to recent empirical research on perceptual expertise: Perceptual expertise (...) is genuinely perceptual and genuinely cognitive, and this phenomenon reveals how we can become epistemically better perceivers. These claims are defended against sceptical opponents that deny significant top-down or cognitive effects on perception, and opponents who maintain that any such effects on perception are epistemically pernicious. (shrink)

It is widely assumed that sense perception cannot deliver knowledge of nonactual (metaphysical) possibilities. We are not supposed to be able to know that a proposition p is necessary or that p is possible (if p is false) by sense perception. This paper aims to establish that the role of sense perception is not so limited. It argues that we can know lots of modal facts by perception. While the most straightforward examples concern possibility and contingency, others concern necessity and (...) impossibility. The possibility of a perceptual route to some modal knowledge is not as radical as it may at first sound. On the contrary, acknowledging it has benefits. (shrink)

Perceptual Confidence is the view that perceptual experiences assign degrees of confidence. After introducing, clarifying, and motivating Perceptual Confidence, I catalogue some of its more interesting consequences, such as the way it blurs the distinction between veridical and illusory experiences, a distinction that is sometimes said to carry a lot of metaphysical weight. I also explain how Perceptual Confidence fills a hole in our best scientific theories of perception and why it implies that experiences don't have (...) objective accuracy conditions. (shrink)

The two main theories of perceptual reasons in contemporary epistemology can be called Phenomenalism and Factualism. According to Phenomenalism, perceptual reasons are facts about experiences conceived of as phenomenal states, i.e., states individuated by phenomenal character, by what it’s like to be in them. According to Factualism, perceptual reasons are instead facts about the external objects perceived. The main problem with Factualism is that it struggles with bad cases: cases where perceived objects are not what they appear (...) or where there is no perceived object at all. The main problem with Phenomenalism is that it struggles with good cases: cases where everything is perfectly normal and the external object is correctly perceived, so that one’s perceptual beliefs are knowledge. In this paper we show that there is a theory of perceptual reasons that avoids the problems for Factualism and Phenomenalism. We call this view Propositionalism. We use ‘proposition’ broadly to mean the entities that are contents of beliefs and other doxastic attitudes. The key to finding a middle ground between Phenomenalism and Factualism, we claim, is to allow our reasons to be false in bad cases. Despite being false, they are about the external world, not our phenomenal states. (shrink)

Both common sense and dominant traditions in art criticism and philosophical aesthetics have it that aesthetic features or properties are perceived. However, there is a cast of reasons to be sceptical of the thesis. This paper defends the thesis—that aesthetic properties are sometimes represented in perceptual experience—against one of those sceptical opponents. That opponent maintains that perception represents only low-level properties, and since all theorists agree that aesthetic properties are not low-level properties, perception does not represent aesthetic properties. I (...) offer a novel argument—what I call the argument from seeing-as—against that sceptic which moves from consideration of ambiguous figures to consideration of visual art. It concludes that aesthetic properties are sometimes perceived and delivers a general lesson for philosophy of perception. Contrary to extant theories of rich perceptual content, aesthetic properties are far better candidates for high-level perceptual contents than standardly theorized rich contents like natural kinds. (shrink)

Perceptual experiences are not immediately responsive to reasons. You see a stick submerged in a glass of water as bent no matter how much you know about light refraction. Due to this isolation from reasons, perception is traditionally considered outside the scope of epistemic evaluability as justified or unjustified. Is perception really as independent from reasons as visual illusions make it out to be? I argue no, drawing on psychological evidence from perceptual learning. The flexibility of perceptual (...) learning is a way of responding to new epistemic reasons. The resulting perceptual experiences are epistemically evaluable as justified or unjustified. (shrink)

Perceptual experience supports the assignment of confidences in belief – doxastic confidences. To explain this fact, many philosophers appeal to Perceptual Indeterminacy, which holds that perceptual content can be more or less determinate. Others instead appeal to Perceptual Confidence, which says that perceptual experience supports doxastic confidences because it assigns confidences too. Morrison argues that a primary reason to favour Perceptual Confidence is that it is uniquely capable of accounting for bell-shaped doxastic confidence distributions; (...) we call this the bell curve objection to Perceptual Indeterminacy. Here we show that two recent defences of Perceptual Indeterminacy, due to Nanay and Raleigh and Vindrola, fail to adequately address the bell curve objection. But we also argue that all is not lost for proponents of Perceptual Indeterminacy. They can counter the bell curve objection by embracing a third view, which we call Perceptual Noise. (shrink)

Perceptual systems respond to proximal stimuli by forming mental representations of distal stimuli. A central goal for the philosophy of perception is to characterize the representations delivered by perceptual systems. It may be that all perceptual representations are in some way proprietarily perceptual and differ from the representational format of thought (Dretske 1981; Carey 2009; Burge 2010; Block ms.). Or it may instead be that perception and cognition always trade in the same code (Prinz 2002; Pylyshyn (...) 2003). This paper rejects both approaches in favor of perceptual pluralism, the thesis that perception delivers a multiplicity of representational formats, some proprietary and some shared with cognition. The argument for perceptual pluralism marshals a wide array of empirical evidence in favor of iconic (i.e., image-like, analog) representations in perception as well as discursive (i.e., language-like, digital) perceptual object representations. (shrink)

A very natural view about perceptual knowledge is articulated, one on which perceptual knowledge is closely related to perceptual discrimination, and which fits well with a relevant alternatives account of knowledge. It is shown that this kind of proposal faces a problem, and various options for resolving this difficulty are explored. In light of this discussion, a two-tiered relevant alternatives account of perceptual knowledge is offered which avoids the closure problem. It is further shown how this (...) proposal can: accommodate our intuitions about perceptual knowledge and perceptual discrimination in terms of the notion of primary relevance, give an account of how alternatives can be rationally excluded without appeal to perceptual discrimination in terms of the notion of secondary relevance, and deal with the problem posed by inverted Gettier cases, and hence explain what it means to rationally exclude alternatives which are of secondary relevance. (shrink)

Recently, the thesis that experience is fundamentally a matter of representing the world as being a certain way has been questioned by austere relationalists. I defend this thesis by developing a view of perceptual content that avoids their objections. I will argue that on a relational understanding of perceptual content, the fundamental insights of austere relationalism do not compete with perceptual experience being representational. As it will show that most objections to the thesis that experience has content (...) apply only to accounts of perceptual content on which perceptual relations to the world play no explanatory role. With austere relationalists, I will argue that perceptual experience is fundamentally relational. But against austere relationalists, I will argue that it is fundamentally both relational and representational. (shrink)

Perceptual reports are utterances of sentences that contain a perceptual verb, such as ‘look’, ‘sound’, ‘feel’, ‘see’, and ‘perceive’. It is natural to suppose that at least in many cases, these types of reports reflect aspects of the phenomenal character and representational content of a subject’s perceptual experiences. For example, an utterance of ‘my chair looks red but it’s really white’ appears to reflect phenomenal properties of the speaker’s experience of a chair. Whether perceptual reports actually (...) reflect these things is a substantial question and one with which this entry will be partially concerned. This article begins with a linguistic analysis of perceptual verbs and then considers some potential implications of this analysis for the philosophy of perception, given the assumption that perceptual reports sometimes express truths. (shrink)

This book presents an original comprehensive approach to some of the most difficult problems concerning sense-perception and other mental states. After rejecting prevailing approaches, the author presents his own viewpoint which may be characterized as direct, critical realism. Basing his conclusions on conceptual analysis, psychological evidence and historical considerations, the author is able to offer new insights into traditionally unsolved problems concerning the nature of perceptual states, the ontological status of perceptual environment, the cognitive mechanism in perception and (...) the explanation of perceptual mistakes. The book also discusses the implications of this approach for other mental states such as memory and consciousness. (shrink)

Does perceptual consciousness require cognitive access? Ned Block argues that it does not. Central to his case are visual memory experiments that employ post-stimulus cueing—in particular, Sperling's classic partial report studies, change-detection work by Lamme and colleagues, and a recent paper by Bronfman and colleagues that exploits our perception of ‘gist’ properties. We argue contra Block that these experiments do not support his claim. Our reinterpretations differ from previous critics' in challenging as well a longstanding and common view of (...) visual memory as involving declining capacity across a series of stores. We conclude by discussing the relation of probabilistic perceptual representations and phenomenal consciousness. (shrink)