Aristotle on Perceiving ObjectsHow can we explain the structure of perceptual experience? What is it that we perceive? How is it that we perceive objects and not disjoint arrays of properties? By which sense or senses do we perceive objects? Are our five senses sufficient for the perception of objects? Aristotle investigated these questions by means of the metaphysical modeling of the unity of the perceptual faculty and the unity of experiential content. His account remains fruitful-but also challenging-even for contemporary philosophy. This book offers a reconstruction of the six metaphysical models Aristotle offered to address these and related questions, focusing on their metaphysical underpinning in his theory of causal powers. By doing so, the book brings out what is especially valuable and even surprising about the topic: the core principles of Aristotle's metaphysics of perception are fundamentally different from those of his metaphysics of substance. Yet, for precisely this reason, his models of perceptual content are unexplored territory. This book breaks new ground in offering an understanding of Aristotle's metaphysics of the content of perceptual experience and of the composition of the perceptual faculty. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 3 | |
2 Aristotles Causal Powers Theory of Perception | 78 |
3 Aristotles Subtle Perceptual Realism | 125 |
4 The Problem of Complex Perceptual Content | 156 |
5 Unity of Subject Operation Content and Time | 189 |
6 Mixing the Many and Partitioning the One | 213 |
7 One and Many Perceptual Faculties | 237 |
8 Conclusions | 264 |
| 277 | |
| 285 | |
Index Locorum | 289 |
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Common terms and phrases
active power agent analogy Anima Aristotle writes Aristotle’s account Aristotle’s theory capacity causal interaction causal powers ceptual chapter cial cival color common sense common sensibles complex content complex perceptual content correspondence principle discrimination emphasis example explain functions Gregoric hearing heat holism incidental perception interpretation Johansen medium metaphysical modally motion movable movement mover multimodal multiple nature object of perception ontological operation otov passive powers patient perceiver’s perceptible qualities perceptual awareness perceptual experience perceptual faculty perceptual powers perceptual system physical potentiality properties ratio realization relation Relative Identity Model second actuality Sense and Sensibilia sense organ senses perceive sight simultaneous perception single smell soul sound special senses special sensibles Substance Model taste Theaetetus Thebes theory of perception things tion transmission uév unified unity virtual particles white and sweet Yūp ἅμα γὰρ δὲ εἶναι ἐν ἐνέργεια μὲν πρὸς τὰ τοῦ τῷ τῶν