Spring 2012

Descartes explains how the eyes can focus on a nearby object. From Stephen Gaukroger (Ed), The World and Other Writings, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004, p. 158.

Overview

This is a graduate reading course on philosophy of perception, with a focus on the contents of perception. Please contact me if you would like to participate. Independent study forms can now be filled out online. The reading list will evolve as the course progresses. A BibTeX file containing all the references below can be found here. Unless otherwise advertised, we meet in the Lewis White Beck Memorial Library at 2pm–4pm.

Schedule

Thursday 19 January

• Siegel, Susanna. 2010. “The Contents of Perception”, in Zalta (Ed), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, Stanford. URI: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/perception-contents/
• Travis, Charles. 2004. “The Silence of the Senses”, in Mind, Vol. 113, No. 449, January, pp. 57–94. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mind/113.449.57

Thursday 26 January

• Byrne, Alex. 2009. “Experience and Content”, in The Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 59, No. 236, July, pp. 429–451. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9213.2009.614.x
• Schellenberg, Susanna. 2011. “Perceptual Content Defended”, in Noûs, Vol. 45, No. 4, December, pp. 714–750. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0068.2010.00791.x

Thursday 2 February

• Siegel, Susanna. 2011. The Contents of Visual Experience, Oxford University Press, Oxford. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305296.001.0001, Introduction and Chapter 1.

Thursday 9 February, 1pm–3pm

• Johnston, Mark. 2006. “Better than Mere Knowledge? The Function of Sensory Awareness”, in Gendler and Hawthorne (Ed), Perceptual Experience, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 260–290. [PDF]

Thursday 16 February

• Siegel, Susanna. 2011. The Contents of Visual Experience, Oxford University Press, Oxford. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305296.001.0001, Chapter 2.

Thursday 23 February

• Pautz, Adam. 2009. “What Are the Contents of Experiences?”, in The Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 59, No. 236, July, pp. 483–507. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9213.2008.584.x.

Thursday 1 March

• Siegel, Susanna. 2011. The Contents of Visual Experience, Oxford University Press, Oxford. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305296.001.0001, Chapter 3.

Thursday 8 March

• Siegel, Susanna. 2011. The Contents of Visual Experience, Oxford University Press, Oxford. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305296.001.0001, Chapter 4.
• Bayne, Tim. 2009. “Perception and the Reach of Phenomenal Content”, in The Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 59, No. 236, July, pp. 385–404. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9213.2009.631.x

Thursday 22 March

• Masrour, Farid. 2011. “Is Perceptual Phenomenology Thin?”, in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 83, No. 2, September, pp. 366–397. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1933-1592.2010.00443.x

Tuesday 27 March

• Siegel, Susanna. 2011. The Contents of Visual Experience, Oxford University Press, Oxford. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305296.001.0001, Chapter 5.

Thursday 12 April

• Butterfill, Stephen. 2009. “Seeing Causings and Hearing Gestures”, in The Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 59, No. 236, July, pp. 405–428. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9213.2008.585.x.

Thursday 19 April

• Peacocke, Christopher. 2011. “Representing Causality”, in McCormack, Hoerl and Butterfill (Ed), Tool Use and Causal Cognition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 148–168. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571154.003.0008.

Thursday 26 April

• Woodward, James. 2011. “Causal Perception and Causal Cognition”, in Roessler, Lerman and Eilan (Ed), Perception, Causation, and Objectivity, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 229–263. [PDF]

Thursday 3 May

• Beebee, Helen. 2003. “Seeing Causing”, in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. 103, No. 1, June, pp. 257–280. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0066-7372.2003.00072.x

Candidate Readings

• Burge, Tyler. 2009. “Perceptual Objectivity”, in Philosophical Review, Vol. 118, No. 3, July, pp. 285–324. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00318108-2009-001
• Chalmers, David J. 2006. “Perception and the Fall from Eden”, in Gendler and Hawthorne (Ed), Perceptual Experience, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 49–125
• Dretske, Fred I. 2006. “Perception without Awareness”, in Gendler and Hawthorne (Ed), Perceptual Experience, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 147–180
• Lormand, Eric. 2006. “Phenomenal Impressions”, in Gendler and Hawthorne (Ed), Perceptual Experience, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 316–353
• Martin, Michael G. F. 2006. “On Being Alienated”, in Gendler and Hawthorne (Ed), Perceptual Experience, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 354–410
• Nanay, Bence. 2011. “Do We Sense Modalities with Our Sense Modalities?”, in Ratio, Vol. 24, No. 3, September, pp. 299–310. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9329.2011.00501.x
• Peacocke, Christopher. 1986. Thoughts: An Essay on Content, Basil Blackwell, Oxford
• Prinz, Jesse J. 2006. “Beyond Appearances: The Content of Sensation and Perception”, in Gendler and Hawthorne (Ed), Perceptual Experience, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 434–460
• Rips, Lance J. 2011. “Causation From Perception”, in Perspectives on Psychological Science, Vol. 6, No. 1, January, pp. 77–97. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1745691610393525
• Scholl, Brian J. and Tremoulet, Patrice D. 2000. “Perceptual Causality and Animacy”, in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 8, August, pp. 299–309. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(00)01506-0
• Shoemaker, Sydney. 2006. “On the Way Things Appear”, in Gendler and Hawthorne (Ed), Perceptual Experience, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 461–480
• Siegel, Susanna and Silins, Nicholas. forthcoming. “The Epistemology of Perception”, in Matthen (Ed), Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Perception, Oxford University Press, Oxford