Twenty-seventh PPLS Interdisciplinary Seminar

Speaker: Professor Mohan Matthen (Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Perception, University of Toronto)

Title: The Perceptual Representation of Space

Watch a video of this talk on YouTube

Abstract: Aristotle, and following him many biologists right up to the present day, believed that only animals sense and only they move. His view (and theirs) is based on an overly narrow conception of both sensing and moving. All living things respond to their environments, and so they all need to sense. And in one way or another, they all move. Aristotle’s view still has some merit, however. It is likely that the kind of movement that he had in mind is towards or away from distant objects. Not all living things target distant objects in this manner. I’ll argue that this kind of movement is linked to the sensory representation of space.

Invited comments from:

• Professor Antony Trewavas FRS, FRSE (Institute of Molecular Plant Science, University of Edinburgh)
• Dr Paco Calvo (Minimal Intelligence Lab, University of Murcia, Spain, and Visiting Researcher here in PPLS)

Contact

Professor Andy Clark