Visual indeterminacy and the puzzle of the speckled hen
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Peer-reviewed
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Article
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Authors
Munton, Jessie https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2351-8980
Abstract
I identify three aspects to the puzzle of the speckled hen: a general puzzle, an epistemic puzzle, and a puzzle for the representationalist. These puzzles rely on an underlying ‘pictorialist’ assumption, that we visually perceive general, determinable properties only in virtue of determinate properties or more specific, local features of our visual experience. This assumption is mistaken: visual perception starts from a position of uncertainty, and is routinely able to acquire information about general properties in the absence of more specific information. Acknowledging that visual indeterminacy is structured this way resolves all three puzzles of the speckled hen.
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Journal Title
Mind and Language
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Journal ISSN
0268-1064
1468-0017
1468-0017
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Publisher
Wiley