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Philosophy 441

Philosophy of Perception

 Bence Nanay

Spring 2008

  

Announcements and paper topics

 

 

Announcements

4/2/08: Some useful stuff for the final paper. If you write on the first paper topic, you may want to read this, if you write on the second one, you may find this helpful. And if you write on the amodal perception question, this may help. Good luck.

4/1/08: I posted the handout I distributed earlier today, as some of you did not get one. It’s on the Lecture Notes & Handouts page.

3/30/08: I will have a number of office hours this week, in preparation for the final paper, and I will announce them in my Tuesday class. But I will also have an OH before that: Tue 1-2pm, at PIT (lower floor of the Student Union Building).

3/28/08: The final paper topics are here.

3/27/08: Reading for next week: Alva Noe’s paper on filling-in/amodal perception.

3/25/08: Little (not so little) change in our plan. I was just told that I will have to cancel our last class because all upper division classes need to be cancelled on the 10th of April from 1-4pm (because of the Arts Last Lecture). So everything will be moved back one class. Final papers will be due on the 8th and I’ll give you the paper topics earlier. Sorry about this.

3/23/08: Oh next week: Thursday 3.20pm-4.20pm.

3/13/08: Readings for the week after next (for classes on March 25 and March 27): A chapter by Gilbert Ryle, section 3 (only) of Mike Martin’s paper and section 1.1 (only) of Lormand’s paper in your book.

3/12/08: Many of you have asked about the final paper. It will be due on the 10th of April. It will be short. And you will get the paper topics probably a week before the due date.

3/11/08: Readings for next Week the Chalmers paper in your book. Read only pp. 50-84.

3/9/08: OH this week: 1-2pm Thursday in my office.

3/8/08: The Wollheim paper I assigned is apparently not really printable unless you are very computer-savvy. So if you don’t want to ruin your eyes, you can print and read this other paper by Wollheim instead. Slightly longer.

3/5/08: Readings for next week: Wollheim’s paper on the perception of pictures

2/28/08: Readings for next week: still chapter 5, 6 and 7 of Ways of seeing. Especially chapter 6.

2/28/08: Office hours next week: Tuesday 1-2pm, at the Pit (ground floor of the Student Union Building).

2/19/08: In preparation for the midterm, I really recommend that you go through my handout on ‘How to write a philosophy paper’, even if you are a philosophy major. It’s on the Lecture Notes & Handouts page.

2/15/08: Some of you have asked me about the midterm.

As you know it’s open book (and open laptop), you can use anything you want.

You’ll get to choose between two paper topics, which are drawn from the two units we have covered so far: Perception and belief and Perception and its contents.

2/12/08: Readings for the reading week: chapter 5, 6 and 7 of Ways of Seeing. If you are not familiar with the distinction between the dorsal and ventral visual subsystems, you may want to read a bit of chapter 2.

2/12/08: Office hours this week: Thursday 3.15-4.15.

Emergency office hours before the midterm: February 26, 12pm-2pm. My office, for those of you who haven’t yet been to my OHs is Buchanan E367,

2/11/08: New handout on Relational versus representational accounts of perception at the Lecture Notes & Handouts page.

2/7/08: Readings for next week:

1.    the first half of a long paper by Charles Travis. As I say, it’s long. So the last section (pp. 30-60) is optional.

2.    Section 4 and section 5 of the Crane chapter (Is there a Perceptual Relation?) in the Perceptual Experience book. You may want to read the lastt paragraph of section 3 to put things into context.

2/4/08: Breaking news: Both books are now in the bookstore.

2/2/08: My office hours next week: Thursday 1-2pm.

1/30/08: Reading for next week: Yet another piece by Siegel: her article on the contents of perception. You can skip sections 6-9, if you don’t have the time (you can also skip section 4.1).

01/28/08: My office hours this week: Tue 3.20-5.00 pm.

01/24/08: Please read the Siegel paper from the Perceptual Experience book for next week. You may find my handout on Siegel’s argument useful. It’s on the  Lecture Notes & Handouts page.

01/21/08: the Perceptual Experience book has arrived. You can pick it up at the Bookstore.

01/17/08: Readings for next week:

            Richard Gregory: Perceptions as Hypotheses

            J. J. Gibson: A Theory of Direct Visual Perception

01/15/08: My office hours this week will be from 1pm to 2pm on Thursday. My office is Buchanan E 367.

01/10/08: I just got a verbal promise from the bookshop that the books will be in early next week. But until then, please read the following:

Daniel Dennett: Seeing is believing. Or is it?

Jesse Prinz: Beyond Appearances.

The Prinz paper is very long and there are some parts (for example, the discussion of being philosophically vs. psychologically abstract) that you can skip.

01/08/08: I just checked with the bookshop and it seems that the books I ordered on the 7th of November are still not here!!! So I’ll assign readings for next week that you can just download from this website. Watch this space.

01/07/08: I get lots of emails about how strict I am about the course requirement. Short answer: not at all. For a longer answer, please email me.

10/01/07: The (more or less) final syllabus is above.

 

 

 

 

 

You may want to take a look at my guidelines for writing a philosophy paper, which is posted on the Lecture Notes and Handouts website.