The Relational and Representational Character of Perceptual Experience

July 17 & 18, 2008

Philosophy Program, RSSS, ANU

The workshop will be held at the Law Link Lecture Theatre on the ANU Campus.

Thursday, July 17

4:15-6:00 Alex Byrne (MIT): “Knowing what I see”

Abstract

I know that a hawk (say) is present by seeing it. I also know that I see the hawk. That last piece of knowledge is particularly puzzling. As Ryle observed, "If I descry a hawk, I find the hawk but I do not find my seeing of the hawk. My seeing of the hawk seems to be a queerly transparent sort of process, transparent in that while a hawk is detected, nothing else is detected answering to the verb in ‘see a hawk’". So how do I know I see a hawk? The paper argues that the answer to that question requires perception to be both relational and representational.

The workshop is sponsored by the Centre for Consciousness.

The workshop is open to all who are interested. No registration is required.