Coming to our senses: Revisiting the haptic as a perceptual system

The article responds to current calls by art educators to expand consideration of the senses beyond the visual. Revisiting the haptic is necessary in order to understand recent, especially feminist, art. Reconceptualizing the haptic is necessary because the haptic carries baggage from past uses of the concept that are deeply problematic. These include the proposal by art historians that the haptic constitutes an artistic drive comparable, though inferior, to a visual drive, and the proposal by art educators that the haptic represents a favoured personality type. These problematic proposals are outlined in order to demarcate them from the current reconceptualization that draws upon recent theorizing from psychology about the senses and perceptual systems as well as phenomenological philosophy, feminist art theory and women’s art practice.