PhiVis 2: Philosophy of Vision Science

Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in the intersection between vision science and the philosophy of perception. But opportunities for conversation between vision scientists and philosophers are still hard to come by. The phiVis workshop is a forum for promoting and expanding this interdisciplinary dialogue. Philosophers of perception can capitalize on the experimental knowledge of working vision scientists, while vision scientists will have an opportunity to connect their research to longstanding philosophical questions. The workshop will feature short talks by philosophers of perception that engage with the latest research in vision science, followed by prepared comments by vision scientists, on topics such as probabilistic representation, multisensory perception, the relationship between low-level and high-level vision, and more. Our first event, a satellite event of VSS 2021, drew nearly 300 attendees; we are now gearing up for Round 2!

Our event will take place on Monday, May 16, from 3:30pm-5:30pm ET, and will be held onsite at VSS (at the TradeWinds Island Grand Resort in St Pete Beach, FL). The in-person event is open to VSS attendees; a limited number of non-VSS-attendees may also attend virtually. The event will feature the following talks:

Mohan Matthen (University of Toronto): Material Objects in Multimodal Perception
with comments by Viola Störmer (Dartmouth)

Nico Orlandi (UC - Santa Cruz): Bayesian Probabilities in Perception: A Critical Analysis
with comments by Frank Tong (Vanderbilt)

Jake Beck (York) and Sam Clarke (University of Pennsylvania): Perceiving Numbers
with comments by Stella Lourenco (Emory)

Also on the program is Megan Peters (UC - Riverside), who will serve as chair. The event will conclude with an open-ended discussion for all participants, about the themes of each talk and more generally about ways philosophy and vision science can most productively interact. Finally, there will be a wine reception following the event, transitioning into the start of VSS’s “Demo Night”.

You can learn more about the phiVis workshop at our website — www.phivis.org — and also in the attached flyer.

Registration is free, though we ask that you please formally sign up to attend through our website - www.phivis.org. These links can also be found on the workshop's website.