Philosophy of Perception: Olfaction vs. Vision

Catalog description

In this course we will explore concepts from perceptual philosophy including mental representations, qualia, consciousness, illusions, and perceptual objects as well as the relation of perception to other psychological phenomena such as memory, emotion, and language. The focus in the class will be on two forms of perceiving, seeing and smelling, which are philosophical counterpoints representing conflicting intuitions about what happens when we perceive the world around us. Questions addressed may include: What is the relation between the mental (the smells and colors we experience) and the physical (the odor molecules and electromagnetic radiation we encounter)? Can we have knowledge of other minds, and how -- how can I know whether roses smell and look the same to you as they smell and look to me? Do we get a different picture of the relation between mind and world if we use vision as the paradigmatic sense than if we use olfaction? Most of the readings will be contemporary philosophy but we will also read some relevant contributions from psychology and cognitive science.