Defending the Content View of Perceptual Experience
In recent years, there has been a notable increase in philosophical interest in perception. Perception is the basic and primary way in which we get in touch with our world in cognitive and active terms: by perceiving the surrounding world, we come to form true beliefs about it and successfully inhabit it through our actions. As such, correctly understanding the nature of perception will help to shed light on many other central philosophical issues.
This book offers a defence of the content view of perceptual experience, of the idea that our perceptual experiences represent the world as being a certain way, and so have representational content. An articulated framework is provided for understanding the nature of these experiences in terms of contentful states, as well as for exploring the epistemological, semantical and phenomenological consequences of such an understanding. In addition, the book also includes a detailed and systematic account of how we conceive and ascribe the content of our experiences and their relation to our phenomenology, beliefs and knowledge of the world.
Diego Zucca is a Researcher and Lecturer in the History of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Sassari, Italy. He has carried out research in Venice, Paris, Berlin, Edinburgh, New York, and Buenos Aires. His main interests are Aristotle, particularly psychology and the theory of perception, and contemporary philosophy of mind, especially the philosophy of perception. His publications include Essere Linguaggio Discorso: Aristotele filosofo dell’ordinario (2006), Esperienza e contenuto. Studi di filosofia della percezione (2012), and L’anima del vivente. Vita, cognizione e azione nella psicologia aristotelica (2015).
“It goes without saying that perception is at the centre of our lives as sentient animals and social beings. In a clear and brilliant way Diego Zucca’s analysis helps us understand what this centrality consists in, why so many alternative explanations of perceptual experience have been put forward in the field, and how his proposal – the Content View – should be preferred over its competitors.”
Professor Massimo Dell’Utri
University of Sassari
“Diego Zucca's book is a timely, important and original contribution to the current debate about the nature of perceptual experience. His challenging and provocative defence of the Content View should be read by all philosophers who want to think clearly about what it means to perceive the world.”
Dr Dave Ward
University of Edinburgh
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