Cognitive Penetrability and the Epistemic Role of Perception
Chapter
First Online:
Abstract
In this chapter, I examine the problems that cognitively penetrated (CP) raises for the epistemic role of perception in justifying empirical beliefs. I assess both internalistic and externalistic accounts of perceptual justification and argue that only the latter, especially when they involve a reference to the sensitivity of perception to the environmental input and the way this sensitivity is influenced by CP, offer a promising start to understanding the effects of CP on the epistemic role of perception. This discussion will serve as the basis on which I will base my revisiting the problem of CP.
References
- Audi, R. (2003). Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
- Austin, J. (1962). Sense and Sensibilia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
- Bach, K. (1987). Thought and Reference. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
- Block, N. (2007). Consciousness, accessibility, and the mesh between Psychology and Neuroscience. Brain and Behavioral Sciences, 30, 481–548.Google Scholar
- Brogaard, B. (2013). Phenomenal seemings and sensible dogmatism. In C. Tucker (Ed.), Seemings and Justification (pp. 270–289). Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Brogaard, B., & Gatzia, D. (2017). The real epistemic significance of perceptual learning. Inquiry. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0020174X.2017.1368172.
- Burge, T. (1977). Belief de re. Journal of Philosophy, 74, 338–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Burge, T. (2003). Perceptual entitlement. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 67(3), 503–548.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Burge, T. (2010). Origins of Objectivity. Oxford: Clarendon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Burnston, D. (2017). Cognitive penetration and the cognition-perception interface. Synthese, 194, 3645–3668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Byrne, A. (2014). Perception and evidence. Philosophical Studies, 170, 101–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Cavanagh, P. (2011). Visual cognition. Vision Research, 51, 1538–1551.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Churchland, P. M. (1988). Perceptual plasticity and theoretical neutrality: A reply to Jerry Fodor. Philosophy of Science, 55, 167–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Clark, A. (2013). Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36, 181–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Davidson, D. (1986). A coherence theory of truth and knowledge. In E. LePore (Ed.), Truth and Interpretation: Perspectives on the Philosophy of Donald Davidson. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
- Evans, G. (1982). The Varieties of Reference. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
- Fantl, J., & McGrath, M. (2009). Knowledge in an Uncertain World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Feyerabend, P. (1981). Realism, Rationalism and Scientific Method: Philosophical Papers (Vol. 1). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Firestone, C., & Scholl, B. J. (2016). Cognition does not affect perception: Evaluating the evidence for ‘top-down’ effects. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X15000965.
- Ghijsen, H. (2016). The real epistemic problem of cognitive penetration. Philosophical Studies, 173, 1457–1475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Hanson, N. R. (1958). Patterns of Discovery. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
- Hatfield, G. (2002). Perception as unconscious inference. In D. Heyer & R. Mausfeld (Eds.), Perception and the Physical World: Psychological and Philosophical Issues in Perception. West Sussex: Wiley.Google Scholar
- Heck, R. G., Jr. (2000). Nonconceptual content and the ‘space of reasons’. Philosophical Review, 109, 483–523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Heck, R. G., Jr. (2007). Are there different kinds of content? In J. Cohen & B. McLaughlin (Eds.), Contemporary Debates in the Philosophy of Mind. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
- Helmholtz, von H. (1878[1925]). Treatise on Psychological Optics. New York: Dover.Google Scholar
- Huemer, M. (2007). Compassionate phenomenal conservatism. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 74, 30–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Huemer, M. (2013). Epistemological asymmetries between belief and experience. Philosophical Studies, 162(3), 741–748.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Jackendoff, R. (1989). Consciousness and the Computational Mind. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
- Kitcher, P. (2001). Real realism: The Galilean strategy. Philosophical Review, 110(2), 151–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Kosslyn, S. M. (1994). Image and Brain. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
- Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
- Kvaning, J. (2003). Propositionalism and the perspectival aspect of justification. American Philosophical Quarterly, 40(1), 3–18.Google Scholar
- Lamme, V. A. F. (2005). Independent neural definitions of visual awareness and attention. In A. Raftopoulos (Ed.), The Cognitive Penetrability of Perception: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Hauppauge, NJ: NovaScience Books.Google Scholar
- Long, R. (2017). How wishful thinking is not like wishful thinking. Philosophical Studies. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-017-0917-2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Lyons, J. (2005). Perceptual beliefs and nonexperiential looks. In J. Hawthorne (Ed.), Philosophical Perspectives, 19: Epistemology. Malden: Blackwell.Google Scholar
- Lyons, J. (2009). Perception and Basic Beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Lyons, J. (2011). Circularity, reliability, and the cognitive penetrability of perception. Philosophical Issues, 21, The Epistemology of Perception, 289–311.Google Scholar
- Lyons, J. C. (2015). Inferentialism and cognitive penetrability of perception. Episteme, 13(1), 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Lyons, J. C. (2016). Experiential evidence. Philosophical Studies, 73, 1053–1079.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Macpherson, F. (2012). Cognitive penetration of colour experience: Rethinking the issue in light of an indirect mechanism. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 84(1), 24–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Markie, P. J. (2005). The mystery of direct perceptual justification. Philosophical Studies, 126, 347–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Markie, P. J. (2006). Epistemically appropriate perceptual belief. Nous, 40, 118–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Markie, P. J. (2013). Searching for true dogmatism. In C. Tucker (Ed.), Seemings and Justification (pp. 248–269). Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- McAllister, B. (2018). Seemings as sui generis. Synthese, 195, 3079–3096.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- McDowell, J. (1994). Mind and World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
- McDowell, J. (2011). Reception as a Capacity for Knowledge. Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press.Google Scholar
- McGrath, M. (2013a). Siegel and the impact for epistemological internalism. Philosophical Studies, 162(3), 723–732.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- McGrath, M. (2013b). Phenomenal conservatism and cognitive penetration. In C. Tucker (Ed.), Seemings and Justification (pp. 225–247). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
- McGrath, M. (2016). Schellenberg on the epistemic force of experience. Philosophical Studies, 173, 897–905.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- McGrath, M., & Fantl, J. (2002). Evidence, pragmatics, and justification. The Philosophical Review, 111, 67–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Millar, A. (2011). How visual perception yields reasons for belief. Philosophical Issues, 21, The Epistemology of Perception, 332–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Peacocke, C. (2004). The Realm of Reason. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
- Perry, J. (2001). Knowledge, Possibility, and Consciousness. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Plantinga, A. (1993). Warrant and Proper Function. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Pryor, J. (2000). The sceptic and the dogmatist. Nous, 34, 517–549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Pryor, J. (2005). There is immediate justification. In M. Steup & E. Sosa (Eds.), Contemporary Debates in Epistemology (pp. 181–201). Maiden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
- Pylyshyn, Z. (1999). Is vision continuous with cognition? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 341–365.Google Scholar
- Pylyshyn, Z. (2003). Seeing and Visualizing: It’s Not What You Think. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Pylyshyn, Z. (2007). Things and Places: How the Mind Connects with the World. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Raftopoulos, A. (2001a). Is perception informationally encapsulated? The issue of the theory-ladenness of perception. Cognitive Science, 25, 423–451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Raftopoulos, A. (2001b). Reentrant pathways and the theory-ladenness of observation. Philosophy of Science, 68, 187–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Raftopoulos, A. (2009). Cognition and Perception: How Do Psychology and Neural Science Inform Philosophy?. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Raftopoulos, A. (2011, November 30). Late vision: Its processes and epistemic status. Front Psychol, 2: 382. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00382.
- Raftopoulos, A. (2014). The cognitive impenetrability of the content of early vision is a necessary and sufficient condition for purely nonconceptual content. Philosophical Psychology, 27(5), 601–620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Raftopoulos, A. (2015a). The cognitive impenetrability of perception and theory-ladenness. Journal of General Philosophy of Science, 46(1), 87–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Raftopoulos, A. (2015b). Cognitive penetrability and consciousness. In J. S. Zeimbekis & A. Raftopoulos (Eds.), Cognitive Effects on Perception: New Philosophical Perspectives (pp. 268–298). Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Raftopoulos, A., & Muller, V. (2006). Nonconceptual demonstrative reference. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 72(2), 251–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Recanati, F. (1997). Direct Reference: From Language to Thought. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
- Rock, I. (1983). The Logic of Perception. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
- Schellenberg, S. (2011). Perceptual content defended. Nous, 45, 714–750.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Schellenberg, S. (2013). Experience and evidence. Mind, 122(487), 699–747.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Schellenberg, S. (2014). The epistemic force of perceptual experience. Philosophical Studies, 170, 87–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Schellenberg, S. (2016a). Phenomenal evidence and factive evidence. Philosophical Studies, 173, 875–896.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Schellenberg, S. (2016b). Phenomenal evidence and factive evidence defended: Replies to MacGrath, Pautz, and Neta. Philosophical Studies, 173, 929–946.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Sellars, W. (1956). Empiricism and the philosophy of mind. In H. Feigl & M. Scriven (Eds.), Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science (Vol. I, pp. 253–329). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
- Siegel, S. (2011). Cognitive penetrability and perceptual justification. Nous, 46, 201–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Siegel, S. (2012). The Contents of Visual Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
- Siegel, S. (2013a). The epistemic impact of the etiology of experience. Philosophical Studies, 162, 697–722.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Siegel, S. (2013b). Can selection effects influence the rational role of experience? In T. Gelder (Ed.), Oxford Studies in Epistemology (Vol. 4, pp. 240–270). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
- Siegel, S. (2015). Epistemic charge. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, CVX(3), 277–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Siegel, S. (2016). How is wishful seeing like wishful thinking? Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. https://doi.org/10.1111/phpr.12273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Siegel, S., & Silins, N. (2014). Consciousness, attention, and justification. In D. Dodds & E. Zardini (Eds.), Scepticism and Perceptual Justification (pp. 149–169). Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Silins, N. (2005). Deception and evidence. Philosophical Perspectives, 19, 375–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Smith, A. D. (2002). The Problem of Perception. Cambridge, MA: The Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
- Smithies, D. (2014). The phenomenal basis of epistemic justification. In J. Kallestrup & M. Sprevak (Eds.), New Waves in Philosophy of Mind. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
- Smithies, D. (2016). Perception and the external world. Philosophical Studies, 173, 1119–1145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Sosa, D. (2011). Some of the structure of experience and belief. Philosophical Issues 21, The Epistemology of Perception, 474–484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Speaks, J. (2005). The Phenomenal and the Representational. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
- Spelke, E. S. (1988). Object perception. In A. I. Goldman (Ed.), Readings in Philosophy and Cognitive Science (pp. 447–461). Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
- Steup, M. (2018). Destructive defeat an justificational force: The diallectic of dogmatism, conservatism, and metaevidentialism. Synthese, 195, 2907–2933.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Tucker, C. (2010). Why open-minded people should endorse dogmatism. Philosophical Perspectives, 24, Epistemology.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Tucker, C. (2014). If dogmatists have a problem with cognitive penetration, you do too. Dialectica, 68(1), 35–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Tye, M. (1995). Ten Problems of Consciousness. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
- Tye, M. (2000). Consciousness, Color, and Content. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Tye, M. (2002). Visual qualia and visual content revisited. In D. Chalmers (Ed.), Philosophy of Mind (pp. 447–457). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
- Tye, M. (2006). Nonconceptual content, richness and fineness of grain. In T. Gendler & J. Hawthorne (Eds.), Perceptual Experience (pp. 504–530). Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Tye, M. (2009). Consciousness Revisited: Materialism Without Phenomenal Concepts. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
- Vahid, H. (2014). Cognitive penetration, the downgrade principle, and extended cognition. Philosophical Issues, 24(1), 439–459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Williamson, T. (2000). Knowledge and Its Limits. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Copyright information
© The Author(s) 2019