Perception

Central Problems of Philosophy

by Barry Maund

The philosophical issues raised by perception make it one of the central topics in the philosophical tradition. Debate about the nature of perceptual knowledge and the objects of perception comprises a thread that runs through the history of philosophy. In some historical periods the major issues have been predominantly epistemological and related to scepticism, but an adequate understanding of perception is important more widely, especially for metaphysics and the philosophy of mind. For this reason Barry Maund provides an account of the major issues in the philosophy of perception that highlights the importance of a good theory of perception in a range of philosophical fields, while also seeking to be sensitive to the historical dimension of the subject. The work presents chapters on forms of natural realism; theories of perceptual experience; representationalism; the argument from illusion; phenomenological senses; types of perceptual content; the representationalist/intentionalist thesis; and adverbialist accounts of perceptual experience. The ideas of, among others, Austin, Dretske, Heidegger, Millikan, Putnam and Robinson are considered and the reader is given a philosophical framework within which to consider the issues.

Genres: Philosophy

192 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2003

Reviews

[Vinicius Apolinario · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uma excelente abordagem naturalista da percepção, bastante original. Maund busca uma perspectiva conciliatória entre representacionalistas e antirepresentacionalistas, favorecendo uma espécie de "representacionalismo moderado". Não sei exatamente o quanto eu endosso a proposta do autor, mas posso ressaltar que o livro possui várias virtudes. Entre elas, buscar explicar o aspecto fenomenológico (a sensação em primeira pessoa, qualia) bem como o aspecto intencional-epistemológico; ele apresenta com clareza várias distinções importante na literatura sobre a percepção dos últimos 25, 30 anos. Questiona, com propriedade, as "famosas" interpretações contra o reprensacionalismo e a teoria dos dados dos sentidos, mostrando certas confusões teóricas por traz dos "críticos do empirismo".
Sou muito simpático à sua concepção de percepção. Duas passagens que me convenceram da relevância de ler esse livro:
(i) "[...] Perception is a process or activity whereby the perceiver comes to acquire knowledge of things in the world in which the perceiver is situated. Perception is characterized functionally: in a healthy organism, properly operating sense organs function so as to enable the organism to acquire knowledge of the world".
(ii) "The causal contact between object and perceiver is of such a kind that it involves identification of the object (discrimination from its surroundings) and it is this act of discrimination that enables the perceiver both to act with respect to that object, target the object in his or her actions and acquire knowledge about the object".
Em resumo, sua principal força é pensar a percepção como um mecanismo com múltiplas funções (sejam elas práticas, sejam elas teóricas). Leitura recomendada.