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1046Sellarsian perspectives on perception and non-conceptual contentIn Michael P. Wolf & Mark Norris Lance (eds.), The Self-Correcting Enterprise: Essays on Wilfrid Sellars, Rodopi. pp. 173-196. 2006.I argue that a Sellarsian approach to experience allows one to take seriously the thought that there is something given to us in perception without denying that we can only be conscious of conceptually structured content. I argue against the traditional empiricist reading of Sellars, according to which sensations are understood as epistemically graspable prior to concrete propositional representations, by showing that it is unclear on such a view why sensations are not just the given as Sellars …Read more
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108Perceptual CapacitiesIn Steven Gouveia, Manuel Curado & Dena Shottenkirk (eds.), Perception, Cognition and Aesthetics, Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy. pp. 137-169. 2019.Despite their importance in the history of philosophy and in particular in the work of Aristotle and Kant, mental capacities have been neglected in recent philosophical work. By contrast, the notion of a capacity is deeply entrenched in psychology and the brain sciences. Driven by the idea that a cognitive system has the capacity it does in virtue of its internal components and their organization, it is standard to appeal to capacities in cognitive psychology. The main benefit of invoking capaci…Read more
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Capacities-First PhilosophyIn Jonathan Cohen & Brian McLaughlin (eds.), Contemporary Debates in the Philosophy of Mind, Blackwell. pp. 406-430. 2023.
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376Block on Attribution, Discrimination, and AdaptationPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research. forthcoming.
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Bayesian liberalismIn Justin Vlasits & Katja Maria Vogt (eds.), Epistemology after Sextus Empiricus, Oxford University Press. 2020.
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Perceptual consciousness as a mental activityIn Josh Weisberg (ed.), Consciousness (Key Concepts in Philosophy), Polity. 2014.
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Perceptual consciousness as a mental activityIn Josh Weisberg (ed.), Consciousness (Key Concepts in Philosophy), Polity. 2014.
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91The generality and particularity of perceptionMind and Language 37 (2): 235-247. 2022.This paper responds to critical comments by Christopher Hill, Ram Neta, and Nico Orlandi on my book The Unity of Perception: Content, Consciousness, Evidence (OUP 2018). It addresses questions about why analyzing mental states in terms of capacities is more explanatory powerful than analyzing them in terms of processes. It further develops my view of functions and their relation to mental capacities. It clarifies the internalist commitments of my externalist view of content, consciousness, and e…Read more
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527Perceptual Capacities, Knowledge, and Gettier CasesIn Rodrigo Borges, Claudio de Almeida & Peter David Klein (eds.), Explaining Knowledge: New Essays on the Gettier Problem, Oxford University Press. pp. 74-95. 2017.This paper argues for a sufficient evidence condition on knowledge and I argue that there is no belief condition on knowledge.
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791Précis of The Unity of PerceptionPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 100 (3): 715-720. 2020.
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307Una defensa del contenido perceptualIn Ignacio Cervieri & Álvaro Peláez (eds.), Contenido y Fenomenología de la Percepción: Aproximaciones Filosóficas, Gedisa-uam. pp. 19-77. 2020.
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731Accuracy Conditions, Functions, Perceptual DiscriminationAnalysis 79 (4): 739-754. 2019.I am deeply indebted to Alex Byrne, Jonathan Cohen and Matthew McGrath for their careful, constructive, and penetrating comments on The Unity of Perception and I am grateful for the opportunity to clarify my view further.
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365SummaryAnalysis 79 (4): 709-713. 2019.The Unity of Perception: Content, Consciousness and Evidence By SchellenbergSusannaOxford University Press, 2018. 272 pp.
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531The origins of perceptual knowledgeEpisteme 14 (3): 311-328. 2017.I argue that the ground of the epistemic force of perceptual states lies in properties of the perceptual capacities that constitute the relevant perceptual states. I call this view capacitivism, since the notion of a capacity is explanatorily basic: it is because a given subject is employing a mental capacity with a certain nature that her mental states have epistemic force. More specically, I argue that perceptual states have epistemic force due to being systematically linked to mind-independe…Read more
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410Fregean ParticularismIn Dirk Kindermann, Peter van Elswyk, Andy Egan & Cameron Domenico Kirk-Giannini (eds.), Unstructured Content, Oxford University Press. forthcoming.
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833Perceptual CapacitiesIn Steven Gouveia, Manuel Curado & Dena Shottenkirk (eds.), Perception, Cognition and Aesthetics, Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy. 2019.Despite their importance in the history of philosophy and in particular in the work of Aristotle and Kant, mental capacities have been neglected in recent philosophical work. By contrast, the notion of a capacity is deeply entrenched in psychology and the brain sciences. Driven by the idea that a cognitive system has the capacity it does in virtue of its internal components and their organization, it is standard to appeal to capacities in cognitive psychology. The main benefit of invoking capaci…Read more
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127The Unity of Perception: Content, Consciousness, EvidenceOxford University Press. 2018.Perception is our key to the world. It plays at least three different roles in our lives. It justifies beliefs and provides us with knowledge of our environment. It brings about conscious mental states. It converts informational input, such as light and sound waves, into representations of invariant features in our environment. Corresponding to these three roles, there are at least three fundamental questions that have motivated the study of perception. How does perception justify beliefs and yi…Read more
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1810Spatial perception: The perspectival aspect of perceptionPhilosophy Compass 13 (2). 2018.When we perceive an object, we perceive the object from a perspective. As a consequence of the perspectival nature of perception, when we perceive, say, a circular coin from different angles, there is a respect in which the coin looks circular throughout, but also a respect in which the coin's appearance changes. More generally, perception of shape and size properties has both a constant aspect—an aspect that remains stable across changes in perspective—and a perspectival aspect—an aspect that c…Read more
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1761Perceptual Consciousness as a Mental ActivityNoûs 53 (1): 114-133. 2019.I argue that perceptual consciousness is constituted by a mental activity. The mental activity in question is the activity of employing perceptual capacities, such as discriminatory, selective capacities. This is a radical view, but I hope to make it plausible. In arguing for this mental activist view, I reject orthodox views on which perceptual consciousness is analyzed in terms of peculiar entities, such as, phenomenal properties, external mind-independent properties, propositions, sense-data,…Read more
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2095Phenomenal evidence and factive evidencePhilosophical Studies 173 (4): 875-896. 2016.Perceptions guide our actions and provide us with evidence of the world around us. Illusions and hallucinations can mislead us: they may prompt as to act in ways that do not mesh with the world around us and they may lead us to form false beliefs about that world. The capacity view provides an account of evidence that does justice to these two facts. It shows in virtue of what illusions and hallucinations mislead us and prompt us to act. Moreover, it shows in virtue of what we are in a better ep…Read more
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1718Perceptual ParticularityPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 93 (1): 25-54. 2016.Perception grounds demonstrative reference, yields singular thoughts, and fixes the reference of singular terms. Moreover, perception provides us with knowledge of particulars in our environment and justifies singular thoughts about particulars. How does perception play these cognitive and epistemic roles in our lives? I address this question by exploring the fundamental nature of perceptual experience. I argue that perceptual states are constituted by particulars and discuss epistemic, ontologi…Read more
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2649Action and self-location in perceptionMind 116 (463): 603-632. 2007.I offer an explanation of how subjects are able to perceive the intrinsic spatial properties of objects, given that subjects always perceive from a particular location. The argument proceeds in two steps. First, I argue that a conception of space is necessary to perceive the intrinsic spatial properties of objects. This conception of space is spelled out by showing that perceiving intrinsic properties requires perceiving objects as the kind of things that are perceivable from other locations. Se…Read more
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896Sellarsian Perspectives on Perception and Non-Conceptual ContentPoznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities 92 (1): 173-196. 2006.I argue that a Sellarsian approach to experience allows one to take seriously the thought that there is something given to us in perception without denying that we can only be conscious of conceptually structured content. I argue against the traditional empiricist reading of Sellars, according to which sensations are understood as epistemically graspable prior to concrete propositional representations, by showing that it is unclear on such a view why sensations are not just the given as Sellars …Read more
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1475Phenomenal evidence and factive evidence defended: replies to McGrath, Pautz, and NetaPhilosophical Studies 173 (4): 929-946. 2016.This paper defends and develops the capacity view against insightful critiques from Matt McGrath, Adam Pautz, and Ram Neta. In response to Matt McGrath, I show why capacities are essential and cannot simply be replaced with representational content. I argue moreover, that the asymmetry between the employment of perceptual capacities in the good and the bad case is sufficient to account for the epistemic force of perceptual states yielded by the employment of such capacities. In response to Adam …Read more
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