Perception and metaphysical skepticism
Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 72 (72):1-28 (1998)
| Abstract | Much recent discussion about the nature of perception has focused on the dispute between the Causal Theory of Perception and the rival Disjunctive View. There are different versions of the Causal Theory (the abbreviation I shall use), but the point upon which they agree is that perception involves a conscious experience which is logically distinct from the particular physical object perceived. 1 On the opposed Disjunctive View, the perceptual experience is held to be inseparable from the object perceived; what is directly present to conscious experience is, literally, part of the physical environment. 2 One prima facie difficulty the Causal Theory appears to face is the problem of deviant causal chains, of providing sufficient conditions for perception; I shall not address this difficulty directly, though some of my concluding remarks will bear on it. My main aim in this paper is to show that, despite the deviant causal chains problem, the Causal Theory is to be preferred to the rival Disjunctive View | |||||||||
| Keywords | Causation Environment Metaphysics Perception Scepticism | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,701 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesValtteri Arstila & Kalle Pihlainen (2009). The Causal Theory of Perception Revisited. Erkenntnis 70 (3):397 - 417.
Jennifer Matey (2012). Representing the Impossible. Philosophical Psychology 26 (2):188 - 206.
C. H. Whiteley (1940). The Causal Theory of Perception. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 40:89-102.
Matthew Soteriou, The Disjunctive Theory of Perception. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2009 edition).
Walter Horn (2012). Note on Two Snowdon Criticisms of the Causal Theory of Perception. Acta Analytica 27 (4):441-447.
Matthew Soteriou (2005). The Subjective View of Experience and its Objective Commitments. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 105 (2):177-190.
John Dilworth (2005). Perceptual Causality Problems Reflexively Resolved. Acta Analytica 20 (3):11-31.
James Woodward (2011). Causal Perception and Causal Cognition. In Johannes Roessler, Hemdat Lerman & Naomi Eilan (eds.), Perception, Causation, and Objectivity. Oxford University Press.
Paul Coates (2000). Deviant Causal Chains and Hallucinations: A Problem for the Anti-Causalist. Philosophical Quarterly 50 (200):320-331.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads18 ( #67,558 of 549,090 )Recent downloads (6 months)2 ( #37,333 of 549,090 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
