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The Rationality of Perception
Susanna Siegel
€ 113.58
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Description for The Rationality of Perception
Hardback. There is an important division in the human mind between perception and reasoning. We reason from information that we have already, but perception is a means of taking in new information. Susanna Siegel argues that these two aspects of the mind become deeply intertwined when beliefs, fears, desires, or prejudice influence what we perceive. Num Pages: 256 pages. BIC Classification: HPK; HPM; HPS. Category: (UP) Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly. Dimension: 222 x 145 x 20. Weight in Grams: 414.
On a traditional conception of the human mind,reasoning can be rational or irrational, but perception cannot. Perception is simply a source of new information, and cannot be assessed for rationality or justification. Susanna Siegel argues that this conception is wrong. Drawing on examples involving racism, emotion, self-defense law, and scientific theories, The Rationality of Perception makes the case that perception itself can be rational or irrational. The Rationality of Perception argues that reasoning and perception are often deeply intertwined. When unjustified beliefs, fears, desires, or prejudices influence what we perceive, we face a philosophical problem: is it reasonable to strengthen what one believes, fears, or suspects, on the basis of an experience that was generated, unbeknownst to the perceiver, by those very same beliefs, fears, or suspicions? Siegel argues that it is not reasonableeven though it may seem that way to the perceiver. In these cases, a perceptual experience may itself be irrational, because it is brought about by irrational influences. Siegel systematically distinguishes a number of different kinds of influences on perception, and builds a theory of how such influences on perception determine what its rational or irrational to believe. She uses the main conclusions to analyze perceptual manifestations of racism. This book makes vivid the far-reaching consequences of psychological and cultural influences on perception. Its method shows how analytic philosophy, social psychology, history and politics can be mutually illuminating.
Product Details
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2017
Condition
New
Weight
413g
Number of Pages
248
Place of Publication
Oxford, United Kingdom
ISBN
9780198797081
SKU
V9780198797081
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-14
About Susanna Siegel
Susanna Siegel is Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University. She is author of numerous articles in the philosophy of perception and epistemology, including several that brought cognitive penetrability into focus for analytic epistemologists. Her book The Contents of Visual Experience (Oxford University Press 2010) won the 2012 Walter Channing Cabot prize. It develops a method of phenomenal contrast for determining which properties are represented in perception, defends the view that perception can represent properties as complex as kinds, causation, and personal identity, and has been discussed widely in the philosophy of mind, epistemology, and moral philosophy.
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