Perception: a philosophical symposium

by Frank Noel Sibley (Editor)

This volume contains four papers and four replies originally given at a Symposium on Perception organized by the Philosophy Department of the University of Lancaster in 1970. All the papers contribute to the contemporary philosophical discussion of perception. They focus upon current debate and attempt to make positive progress or point the way towards future developments, rather than to elaborate criticism or pursue the development of past theories. The papers by Mr Warnock and Mr Taylor develop details of Austin's discussion of what is seen, and its description. Those by Professor Sibley and Professor Vesey aim to explore the possibility of accounts seeing (and so, by implication, of perceiving generally) in terms of the acquisition of beliefs, and consider some of the difficulties to be met by such accounts. Mr Roxbee Cox in his paper elaborates a view of this kind in greater detail, avoiding some of difficulties of other recent attempts in this direction, while Professor Kneale offers objections to the enterprise. Finally, Mr O'Shaughnessy, commented upon by Professor Williams, opens up a set of neglected problems about various temporal relationships of acts and events that occur during perception.

195 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1971