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Lotze on the Sensory Representation of Space

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The Dawn of Cognitive Science

Part of the book series: Synthese Library ((SYLI,volume 295))

Abstract

While there is nowadays some appreciation for the vast and significant influence of the philosophical and psychological writings of Rudolf Hermann Lotze,1 there is at the same time an ever growing need for more detailed considerations of various aspects of his work. For there can be little doubt that he was by far one of the most important philosophers in the post-idealist phase of nineteenth century German philosophy. In the following I shall attempt to make a contribution that will to some extent meet the need just indicated. Here I shall discuss his efforts to explain the sensory representation of space by means of the theory of local signs, which is vividly and succinctly described by William James as:

The theory which denies that there can be in a sensation any element of actual locality, of inherent spatial order, any tone as it were which cries to us immediately and without further ado, ‘I am here,’ or ‘I am there.‘2

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Rollinger, R.D. (2001). Lotze on the Sensory Representation of Space. In: Albertazzi, L. (eds) The Dawn of Cognitive Science. Synthese Library, vol 295. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9656-5_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9656-5_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5646-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-015-9656-5

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