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How to see invisible objects

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Abstract

jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pIt is an apparent truism about visual perception that we can see only what is visible to us. It is also frequently accepted that visual perception is dynamic: our visual experiences are extended through, and can evolve over time. I argue that taking the dynamism of visual experience seriously renders certain simplistic interpretations of the first claim, that a subject at a given time can see only what is visible to her at that time, false: we can be meaningfully said to see invisible objects. This counterintuitive result in turn focuses our attention on the relationship between perception and memory. I show that it is difficult to draw a clear or simple distinction between the two. Memory and perception rely on, and blend with, one another. Together, these claims point us away from understanding visual perception as a simple reflection of the environment, and instead as closer to a process of dynamic modelling that draws together occurrent stimulation and stored information.</jats:p>

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Keywords

5003 Philosophy, 50 Philosophy and Religious Studies, Behavioral and Social Science, Basic Behavioral and Social Science, Eye Disease and Disorders of Vision

Journal Title

Noûs

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0029-4624
1468-0068

Volume Title

56

Publisher

Wiley