Wilson, K. A. (2018) Are the senses silent? Travis’s argument from Looks. In: Collins, J. and Dobler, T. (eds.) The Philosophy of Charles Travis: Language, Thought, and Perception. Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 199-221. ISBN 9780198783916 (doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198783916.003.0010)
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Abstract
Many philosophers and scientists take perceptual experience, whatever else it involves, to be representational. In ‘The Silence of the Senses’, Charles Travis argues that this view involves a kind of category mistake, and consequently, that perceptual experience is not a representational or intentional phenomenon. The details of Travis’s argument, however, have been widely misinterpreted by his representationalist opponents, many of whom dismiss it out of hand. This chapter offers an interpretation of Travis’s argument from looks that it is argued presents a genuine and important challenge to orthodox representational views of experience. Whilst this challenge may not (pace Travis) be insurmountable, it places a substantial burden upon the representationalist to explain not only how experiences come to have the contents that they do (the individuation question), but how those contents come to feature in our conscious mental lives (the availability question).
| Item Type: | Book Sections |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | perception, representational content, representationalism, relational view, Charles Travis, disjunctivism, naïve realism. |
| Status: | Published |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Wilson, Dr Keith |
| Authors: | Wilson, K. A. |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology |
| College/School: | College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Philosophy |
| Research Group: | Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
| ISBN: | 9780198783916 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2018 The contributor |
| First Published: | First published in The Philosophy of Charles Travis: Language, Thought, and Perception: |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher |
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