2022 Carl G. Hempel Lecture 1: “Puzzles of Perception”

The Department of Philosophy is pleased to present the first of three lectures in our 2022 Carl G. Hempel Lecture series. This year’s series, entitled “Uncovering Appearances,” will be presented by Michael Martin, Wilde Professor of Mental Philosophy at the University of Oxford.

Lecture 1: “Puzzles of Perception”
Abstract: Sixty years ago, in “Sense & Sensibilia,” JL Austin came to bury, not praise, philosophy of perception. Times change and so does philosophical fashion: philosophers debate the problems of perception yet again. The new fashion comes with new terminology. Once, the different parties argued about direct and indirect perception, or the nature of the objects of perception. Now, the concern is with sense experience and the existence of qualia or the role of intentional content. Have the current debates superseded the old ones, do the new terms draw importantly different distinctions from the old ones? Are Austin’s put downs agilely avoided, or are the potential targets simply cloth-eared to his withering scorn? In this lecture I sketch answers to these questions.