Perception

The nature and limits of perception are fiercely contested -- both by analytic and continental philosophers as well as researchers in other disciplines. For example, some take ethical perception, or perceptual access to forms or structures, to be genuine phenomena, whereas others find this empirically or philosophically implausible. Furthermore, it remains disputed whether in ordinary sensory awareness we perceive objects, facts, representations, sense data, qualia, concepts, or other entities.

Furthermore, the intense interdisciplinary interest in perception -- spanning psychology, art, neuroscience and psychiatry, amongst other areas -- can promise to provide philosophy with exciting new resources and opportunities for collaborative inquiry. Yet, it also raises questions about the boundaries of philosophical investigation into perception, including whether philosophy has such any legitimate role at all.

The conference shall be held on Saturday the 12th of May at the University of Essex, Colchester Campus. The conference will begin at 9:30am with the conference reception opening at 9:00am. Please see the conference website (www.essex.ac.uk/philosophy/gradconference) for further details or e-mail the conference organisers at [email protected].

Registration will be free for Essex philosophy and art history students, £5 for all other students and £10 for all other delegates. Those interested in registering should e-mail [email protected] with their name, institutional affiliation and delegate status (student or otherwise). Please include 'Registration' in the subject heading. Payment will be taken at the conference reception.