Philosophical Problems: Sense and Perception

In this course we will consider three philosophical issues that arise concerning sensory perception. The first issue concerns the common sense assumption that sensory perception takes place in humans through five sense modalities - seeing, hearing, touch, taste and smell. The second issue concerns whether or on what grounds one can limit what is known or represented in sensory perception. For example, do we hear bells or only sounds (and then infer the existence of bells)? The third issue concerns how we should conceive the causal processes that enable us to perceive the world. In considering these issues, we will rely on material from the history of philosophy as well as work done in the 20th and early 21st centuries. We will begin by doing essential background work on these issues from the history of philosophy. We will then more explicitly consider the three issues by reading works of recent and contemporary philosophers.