Philosophy

PPIG: Philosophy, Psychology, and Informatics Group

Speaker: Jessie Munton (University of Cambridge)

Title: Seeing things as they are is seeing things as they could be

Abstract: What is it to see something as an object? What changes when you switch between seeing something as object and seeing it as ground in bi-stable representations? I offer a novel account of visual objects as bundles of modal properties. I argue that modal property perception of the right kind is constitutive of visual object perception. A significant upshot of this approach is that our visual experience represents not just the actual but also the possible: we can see a range of modal properties, and doing so is an essential part of object perception. I argue that the claim we can see modal properties is made plausible by a range of other evidence in vision science and consider some sources of resistance to it.

Further information

We are a group of researchers from diverse backgrounds in the above-mentioned groups (and beyond) who aim to gain an interdisciplinary yet deep understanding of the threads that bind the human mind and the world. In particular, this seminar series focuses on the nature of cognition, metacognition and social cognition. We’ll be tackling questions such as, what does it mean to think? What does it mean to think about thinking? And, what does it mean to think about one’s own thinking versus thinking about the thinking of other people? Please come along!

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Contact details

Tillmann Vierkant

Oct 19 2022 -

PPIG: Philosophy, Psychology, and Informatics Group

2022-10-19: Seeing things as they are is seeing things as they could be

Lecture Theatre C, 40 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JX