Is the visual world a grand illusion?

Author: Noe A.

Source: Journal of Consciousness Studies, Volume 9, Numbers 5-6, 2002 , pp. 1-12(12)

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Abstract:

In this paper I explore a brand of scepticism about perceptual experience that takes its start from recent work in psychology and philosophy of mind on change blindness and related phenomena. I argue that the new scepticism rests on a problematic phenomenology of perceptual experience. I then consider a strengthened version of the sceptical challenge that seems to be immune to this criticism. This strengthened sceptical challenge formulates what I call the problem of perceptual presence. I show how this problem can be addressed by drawing on an enactive or sensorimotor approach to perceptual consciousness. Our experience of environmental detail consists in our access to that detail thanks to our possession of practical knowledge of the way in which what we do and sensory stimulation depend on each other.

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Dept of Philosophy, University of California, Santa Cruz CA 95064. Email: anoe@cats.ucsc.edu

Publication date: 2002-01-01