Do We Perceptually Experience the High-Level Properties of Visual Scenes?

old_uid15202
titleDo We Perceptually Experience the High-Level Properties of Visual Scenes?
start_date2015/03/06
schedule11h30-13h
onlineno
detailsSéance organisée conjointement avec le séminaire PaCS.
summaryPhilosophy of perception tends to focus on the perceptual representation of objects, and debates surrounding the high-level content of perceptual experience are no exception to this rule: there is much discussion of whether we can perceive an object as a pine tree but no discussion of whether we can perceive the scene before us as a forest. Drawing on both empirical and phenomenological data, I argue that we perceptually experience high-level properties of visual scenes such as being a forest, being a desert and being a city. There are several standard objections to the claim that we perceptually experience the high-level properties of objects, but I suggest that none of these objections can be applied to scene perception. I conclude that scene perception has an important part to play in debates concerning the content of perceptual experience.
responsiblesSchlenker