An empirical argument that perception is non-conceptual

Ned Block (New York University)

Abstract of the talk: The view that perception is non-conceptual has been advocated on armchair grounds but I will present actual experimental evidence for it.  I will review evidence that infants between the ages of 6 and 11 months can see colors but normally cannot notice them and so normally cannot accomplish even the simplest kinds of cognition involving colors.  By contrast, children of the same ages can see shapes and also exhibit rudimentary cognition using shape concepts.  I will argue that the upshot is that the color perception of these infants is non-conceptual.  I will also present evidence that adults do not have conceptual perception of colors and then explore the extrapolation of these findings to all of perception.