Perception

This is an undergraduate seminar on the philosophy of perception intended primarily for junior and senior concentrators. Topics include: naive realist versus representational theories of sensory experience, the possibility that sensory experience is massively illusory (so that we already occupy a kind of “virtual reality”), the role of the brain in shaping sensory experience, and the alleged foundational role of sensory experience in knowledge. The focus will be on vision but we will also discuss other sense-modalities. Prerequisite: at least 2 previous courses in philosophy.