A puzzle concerning spatial consciousness

old_uid10804
titleA puzzle concerning spatial consciousness
start_date2012/02/03
schedule14h30-16h30
onlineno
summaryI would like to consider the following trilemma: (i) A subject’s perceptual experience is unified both within and between its senses according to a single perspective. (ii) The perspectival nature of perceptual experience ought to be conceived as the point of origin for an egocentric frame of reference. (iii) Multiple distinct egocentric frames of reference are employed both within and between the senses. Individually, each of these claims has some plausibility. Collectively, they seem to present an inconsistency: perceptual experience cannot be unified according to a single perspective, if that perspective is conceived as the point of origin for an egocentric frame of reference, when there are multiple distinct egocentric frames of reference in operation within and between the senses. I will argue that the trilemma is genuine and discuss the motivations for each of the claims constituting it, in the hope of discerning which ought to be rejected.
responsiblesde Vignemont