Abstract
Perceptual qualities can be arranged in time and space. Therefore, it usually does not appear to us as if we perceive perceptual qualities. Instead, we seem to perceive objects and their properties. Based on this introspective evidence, object-based accounts of perception have been developed. In “Olfactory Objects”, Keller points out that olfactory perception has no spatial structure. He argues that therefore the notion of perceptual objects cannot be applied to olfaction; the common criteria for objecthood in vision fail to pick out olfactory objects. Odor perception is not the perception of objects. Instead, Keller endorses the view proposed by Clare Batty that in olfaction perceptual properties are “object-less”.
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Keller, A. (2016). Olfactory Objects. In: Philosophy of Olfactory Perception. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33645-9_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33645-9_3
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