Abstract
This paper examines the contents of perceptual experience, and focuses in particular on the relation between the representational aspects of an experience and its phenomenal character. It is argued that the Critical Realist two-component analysis of experience, advocated by Wilfrid Sellars, is preferable to the Intentionalist view. Experiences have different kinds of representational contents: both informational and intentional. An understanding of the essential navigational role of perception provides a principled way of explaining the nature of such representational contents. Experiences also have a distinct phenomenal content, or character, which is not determined by representational content.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Empiricism, Perceptual Knowledge, Normativity and Realism |
| Editors | Willem de Vries |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) |
| Pages | 63-100 |
| Number of pages | 38 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-0-19-957330-1, 0199573301 |
| Publication status | Published - 2010 |
Keywords
- Perceptual experience; representational content; critical realism; phenomenal qualities; intentionalism; causal theory of perception; navigational account; Wilfrid Sellars;