Phil 423, Philosophy and Visual Perception (Spring 2005) (will be revised for 2008)
Hatfield / TR 10:30-12noon

The course will begin with a systematic overview of theories of visual perception and their relation to philosophy, from Ptolemy to Rock, with stops to include Ibn al-Haytham, Descartes, Berkeley, Helmholtz, and Köhler, and including a survey of contemporary theories of visual perception (color, form, and distance perception, object perception, and attention). It will then address selected philosophical themes, including the interaction between seeing and knowing (or believing), the metaphysics of seeing, and the role of imagery in thought.

The course is intended to be accessible to students with a previous course in philosophy, psychology, or visual studies. Format is lecture discussion. Students should do the reading prior to the class for which it is required. There will be two papers (6-7 pp. due Mar. 1; 10-12 pp. due Apr. 19) and a comprehensive final examination, essay format. There will also be one or two paragraph writing assignments, to be submitted by e-mail.
Required Books (available at the Penn Book Center, 34th and Samson) (will be revised for 2008)

Stephen E. Palmer, Vision Science: Photons to Phenomenology. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999. Available on-line with PennKey via MIT CogNet (unfortunately, in black and white with poor reproductions of the photographs).
Robert Schwartz, Vision: Variations on Some Berkeleian Themes. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 1994.
Wolfgang Köhler, Dynamics in Psychology. Scranton: Norton, 1973.
Tim Crane, Elements of Mind: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Recommended

George Berkeley, Philosophical Works, Including the Works on Vision, ed. by M. R. Ayers. North Clarendon, Vermont: Tuttle, 1993. (Currently not in stock with no date for printing.)

Additional readings will be available through Blackboard (Bb), and the course books are on reserve in Rosengarten (click on "Course Reserve" and look for me under "Instructor").

Weekly Schedule

Week 1: Introduction, optics, physiology, and theories of vision

Jan. 11: Palmer, ch. 1.
Jan. 13: Palmer, ch. 2.
Week 2: Color vision and color ontology
Jan. 18: Palmer, ch. 3.
Jan. 20: Byrne and Hilbert, "Introduction" and "Colors and Reflectances" (Bb).
Week 3: Color ontology (cont'd)
Jan. 25: Reading: Hardin, "Reinverting the Spectrum"; Hatfield, "Objectivity and Subjectivity Revisited: Color as a Psychobiological Property" (Bb).

History and philosophy of theories of vision

Week 3: Ibn al-Haytham, the Newton of visual theory
Jan. 27: Reading: Euclid (handout), Ibn al-Haytham (Bb, Rgtn), Optics, Bk I, pp. 3-13; Bk II, pp. 113-20, 126-35, 138-46, 149-57, 200-06. (Al-Haytham also Rgtn bk and Phil Lib pamphlet.)
Recommended: Lindberg, Theories of Vision, ch. 4 (Rgtn bk); al-Hatham, Optics, Bk. I, pp. 63-93.
Week 4: Natural geometry meets association of signs
Feb. 1: Readings from Descartes, Dioptrics, Disc. 1, 3-6 (Bb, reserve).
Feb. 3: Berkeley, New Theory of Vision, 1-28, 41-66, and Appendix (Bb, Rgtn bk, ed. Ayers); Schwartz, pp. 1-33.
Recommended: Ayers, Introduction to Berkeley, Philosophical Works, including the works on vision (Rgtn bk).
Week 5: Size and shape perception and unconcious inference
Feb. 8: Berkeley, NTV, secs. 67-120; Schwartz, ch. 2, pp. 58-65.
Recommended as philosophically important: NTV, 121-159.
Feb. 10: Helmholtz, "Origin and Correct Interpretation of our Sense Impressions" (Bb, Phil Lib); Schwartz, ch. 3, pp. 83-104.
Optional: Schwartz, ch. 3, pp. 104-21.

Contemporary theories

Week 6: Gestalt and Gibson
Feb. 15: Köhler, Dynamics in Psychology, chs. 1-2 (to p. 82).
Optional: Dynamics, ch. 2, pp. 82-106 (detailed demonstrations).
Feb. 17: Schwartz, ch. 4.
Recommended: Gibson, The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems, pp. 1-15, 28-9, chs. 9-10, 12-13 (Rgtn bk).
Week 7: Surfaces, depth, and objects
Feb. 22: Palmer, ch. 5.
Recommended: Cutting and Vishton, "Perceiving Layout and Knowing Distances" (Bb, Phil Lib).
Feb. 24: Palmer, ch. 6.
Week 8: Size, shape, position; function and category
Mar. 1: Palmer, ch. 7.
Mar. 3: Palmer, ch. 9.

Spring Break

Visual perception and the philosophy of mind

Week 9: Approaches to mind and body
Mar. 15: Crane, ch. 1.
Mar. 17: Crane, ch. 2; Palmer, ch. 13.1 (i.e., sec. 1).
Week 10: Consciousness
Mar. 22: Palmer, ch. 13.2-4.
Mar. 24: Crane, ch. 3.
Week 11: Qualia: epistemology and metaphysics
Mar. 29: Dennett, "Quining Qualia" (Bb).
Mar. 31: Smart & Jackson articles (Bb).
Week 12: Qualia as intentional; Vision and cognition (attention)
Apr. 5: Crane, ch. 5.
Apr. 7: Palmer, ch. 11.
Week 13: Imagery, perception, and thought
Apr. 12: Palmer, ch. 12.
Optional: Gregory, "How do we interpret images," in Images and Understanding, ed. by H. Barlow, C. Blakemore, and M. Weston (Cambridge: Cambridge Univeristy Press, 1990), pp. 310-30 (Bb).
Apr. 14: Crane, ch. 4.
Optional: Barsalou, "Perceptual symbol systems," Behavioral and Brain Sciences 22 (1999):577-660 (direct link to e-journal).
Week 14: Eye & mind
Apr. 19: Evolution of eyes
M. Land, "Vision in Other Animals," in Images and Understanding, ed. by H. Barlow, C. Blakemore, and M. Weston (Cambridge: Cambridge Univeristy Press, 1990), pp. 197–212 (Bb).
M. Land and R. Fernald, "The Evolution of Eyes," Annual Review of Neuroscience 15 (1992), 1–29.
Apr. 21: Overview and review.

Final exam (as scheduled by registrar).

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