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Visual Phenomenology
Michael Madary
Phenomenological and empirical methods of investigating visual experience converge to support the thesis that visual perception is an ongoing process of anticipation and fulfillment.
In this book, Michael Madary examines visual experience, drawing on both phenomenological and empirical methods of investigation. He finds that these two approaches—careful, philosophical description of experience and the science of vision—independently converge on the same result: Visual perception is an ongoing process of anticipation and fulfillment.
Madary first makes the case for the descriptive premise, arguing that the phenomenology of vision is best described as on ongoing process of anticipation and fulfillment. He discusses visual experience as being perspectival, temporal, and indeterminate; considers the possibility of surprise when appearances do not change as we expect; and considers the content of visual anticipation. Madary then makes the case for the empirical premise, showing that there are strong empirical reasons to model vision using the general form of anticipation and fulfillment. He presents a range of evidence from perceptual psychology and neuroscience, and reinterprets evidence for the two-visual-systems hypothesis. Finally, he considers the relationship between visual perception and social cognition. An appendix discusses Husserlian phenomenology as it relates to the argument of the book.
Madary argues that the fact that there is a convergence of historically distinct methodologies itself is an argument that supports his findings. With Visual Phenomenology, he creates an exchange between the humanities and the sciences that takes both methods of investigation seriously.
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Seeing our World
Michael Madary
We do not see the visual world. We see our visual world. That is, we see a world that we share with other humans, engaged in particular cultural practices. This claim is intended to be at odds with the way that many philosophers and scientists have traditionally thought about visual content. The traditional view has it that we see surfaces and shapes, colors and objects. I would like to defend an alternative. On this alternative, visual content includes social and rational norms. The mental operations that enable intelligent social interaction — often relegated to the inner and unconscious realm of cognition — can actually unfold in plain sight, as it were. These claims all lead to the main thesis of this chapter, which is that visual content has a strong social element. Call it thesis VCS.
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Showtime at the Cartesian Theater? Vehicle Externalism and Dynamical Explanations
Michael Madary
Vehicle externalists hold that the physical substrate of mental states can sometimes extend beyond the brain into the body and environment. In a particular variation on vehicle externalism, Susan Hurley (1998) and Alva Noë (2004) have argued that perceptual states, states with phenomenal qualities, are among the mental states that can sometimes spread beyond the brain. Their vehicle externalism about perceptual states will be the main topic of this article. In particular, I will address three strong objections to their vehicle externalism, objections by Ned Block (2005a), Jesse Prinz (2006), and Fred Adams and Ken Aizawa (2008). Though in some ways these objections appear disparate, I will argue that all of them depend on a crucial presupposition, one which Hurley, Noë, and their sympathizers should reject. This presupposition is that perceptual character is fixed by an instantaneous snapshot of neural states, a view that Hurley dubbed ‘temporal atomism’. To put the presupposition in more familiar terms, all three objections are implicitly committed to something like Dennett’s Cartesian Theater (1991).
In the first part of the article, I will discuss Hurley and Noë’s views, and include reasons why their views entail the rejection of the Cartesian Theater. In the next part of the article I will introduce the three objections and show how they presuppose something like a Cartesian Theater. I will also show that, if the Cartesian Theater is rejected, the objections all vanish. In the final part of the article I address the charge that Noë and Hurley confuse causation with constitution. This charge reveals a lack of appreciation for the way in which dynamical explanation motivates Hurley’s externalism.
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Perception, Action, Consciousness: Sensorimotor Dynamics and Dual Vision
Michael Madary, Nivedita Gangopadhyay, and Finn Spicer
What is the relationship between perception and action, between an organism and its environment, in explaining consciousness? These are issues at the heart of philosophy of mind and the cognitive sciences.
This book explores the relationship between perception and action from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives, ranging from theoretical discussion of concepts to findings from recent scientific studies. It incorporates contributions from leading philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, and an artificial intelligence theorist. The contributions take a range of positions with respect to the view that perception is an achievement by an agent acting in a complex environment in which sensorimotor dynamics constitute an essential ingredient to perceptual experience.
A key focus of the book is on the debate about action-oriented theories of visual perception versus the dual-visual systems hypothesis The former champions the role of sensorimotor dynamics in perceptual awareness while the latter favours a functional dichotomy between perception and action. At least on the surface, these two approaches are in conflict. Where one emphasizes the interdependence of action and perception, the other suggests that action and perception are functionally distinct. The dialogue between these two approaches brings out wider theoretical issues underlying the research paradigm of cognitive sciences and philosophy of mind.
Exploring one of the major debates in the philosophy and psychology, this book is fascinating reading for all those in the cognitive sciences and philosophy of mind. -
Sensorimotor Dynamics and Dual Vision: An Introduction
Michael Madary, Nivedita Gangopadhyay, and Finn Spicer
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of this book, which is to outline the results of the conference on Perception, Action, and Consciousness: Sensorimotor Dynamics and Two-Visual Systems organized as part of the CONTACT project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council under the European Science Foundation Eurocores Consciousness in Natural and Cultural Contexts (CNCC) scheme. The goal was to bring together leading researchers in philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence in order to discuss the relation between perception and action, specifically whether perception required action or whether perceptual awareness was merely a matter of passively representing the visual world. The chapter presents the general issues discussed in the chapters and brings out the various themes that have emerged from the discussions of the relations between perception and action. These include the following questions: What is action in perception? Does empirical evidence support the functional dichotomy between perception and action? What constitutes the content of perceptual experience?
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John Stuart Mill, Three Essays on Religion
Lou Matz
John Stuart Mill was one of the most important political and social thinkers of the nineteenth century, and his writings on human rights, feminism, the evils of slavery, and the environment are still widely read and influential today. Published after Mill’s death to avoid controversy, the three essays in this edition, Nature, Utility of Religion, and Theism, represent Mill’s considered position on religion. Mill argues that belief in a supernatural power holds us back, but that a conception of the meaning and value of being human, or Religion of Humanity, could make the world a better place. Essential in understanding Mill’s views on religion and his practical philosophy, these essays are also significant contributions to the philosophy and psychology of religion.
Appendices include Mill’s other writings on religion, his early influences, contemporary reviews, and other 19th century writings on religion and science.
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Buddhism and Sustainable Development
Lou Matz
The attempt to study and evaluate development in Thailand within the framework of sustainable development raises the philosophical question of the extent to which Buddhism in Thailand might be amenable to the adoption of a sustainable development approach. I contend that a Buddhist approach to development affirms the core elements of sustainable development and so ought to be receptive to its implementation. In the course of my chapter, I briefly explain the basic ideas of Theravada Buddhism, the form of Buddhism in Thailand; isolate what I believe are the core objectives of sustainable development; clarify what prominent Thai monks and scholars believe are the limitations of traditional dimensions of sustainability and hence can learn much from each other. Proponents of sustainable development have focused primarily on the realm of policy making and formulation of specific indicators to measure scientifically the sustainability of policies and practices, whereas Buddhists in Thailand have focused far more on attaining moral and spiritual awareness and have neglected the importance of public policy making. Both dimensions are essential to truly free and sustainable societies.
A selection of books and book chapters written or edited by faculty in the College of the Pacific - Department of Philosophy at University of the Pacific.
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