WS 2016: Perception and the Body (Proseminar)

Location:

BURSE - Schellingzimmer 218

Time:

Fridays at 14.00 c.t. (this means that we will start at 14.15)

Contact:

mog.stapleton.philosophy AT gmail.com

ABOUT THE COURSE

Traditionally philosophy and cognitive science have painted a picture of perception in which we receive information from the world and act based upon this information. Recent work in philosophy, neuroscience, and the other cognitive sciences however, suggests that perception is best thought of as an active process of making sense of the world. The activity that is relevant to perception can be understood in two ways: rather than passively receiving information our brains may actively construct our perceived worlds, or--even more radically--the way our bodies are shaped and the activity that this shape enables may (also) constrain and contribute to what is, and what can be perceived. We will approach this topic from a genuinely interdisciplinary perspective drawing on both key traditional philosophical texts and state-of-the-art research papers in order to consider what these theories tell us about what perception is, what it is for, and what role the body plays in perceiving. We will follow the line of thought and influence from Kant through Husserl and Merleau-Ponty, J.J.Gibson and current psychological research building on the ecological psychology paradigm, to enactive theorists of perception such as Alva Noe, and finally to the new embodied predictive coding paradigm proposed by Andy Clark which is currently a "hot topic" in the philosophy of cognitive science.

All interested students are welcome. Some background in philosophy, psychology, or neuroscience would be helpful. The course will be of particular interest to those students enrolled in Philosophy, Cognitive Science, Psychology, and the Max Planck Neural and Behavioral Graduate School.

REQUIREMENTS

3 ECTS: All class requirements *apart from* the midterm essay

6 ECTS: All class requirements

9 ECTS:

• All class requirements + 2000 word Hausarbeit (due February 1st 2017)

OR

• all class requirements *apart from* the midterm essay + 3000 word Hausarbeit (due February 1st 2017)

Expected participation:

• Attendance in all classes (if you cannot attend due to sickness or tragedy please email me)
• To have read the required readings thoroughly and taken notes (please bring these to class)
• Participation in all classes (i.e. asking questions and participating in discussion--please bring along a written copy of the questions you have based on the reading so that you are prepared to ask these to the group)

Assignments:

• Each class has a homework component based on the preparatory reading for the class. You must complete this homework before the class and email it to me by the Wednesday night of each week. These homeworks will be assessed on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis. Satisfactory completion of all of them is required.
• Group presentations (10-15 minutes) of the key points in the text and questions you have to kickstart the discussion. Assessed on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.
• One essay of 800-1000 words based on the readings for Merleau-Ponty: DUE NOVEMBER 20th. Graded.
  • Title: "According to Merleau-Ponty what role does the body play in perception?
• 10 minute individual presentation on 16th December connecting the class topic to your own interests. Graded.

Background reading

We will be using chapters from the following textbooks supplemented with some contemporary research articles. The chapters that you need for class are available by following the links for each class but you may find reading the rest of these books enjoyable and useful.

• Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Psychology by Martin Farrell
• Phenomenology: An Introduction by Stephan Käufer and Anthony Chemero

CLASS SCHEDULE

October 21st: Organisational session

October 28th: British Empiricism: Locke, Berkeley, Hume

• Farrell ch. 5
• Farrell ch. 6
• Homework: questions at end of ch. 5 and questions at end of ch. 6

The homework questions are the 'Revision Questions' at the end of each chapter of the Farell book. Email them to me by the end of Wednesday so that I have time to look through them on the day before class.

November 4th: Kant and Wundt

• Käufer & Chemero ch. 1
• Farrell ch. 11
• Homework: questions at end of ch. 11

For primary readings you may want to try:

• Wundt, W. M. (1904). Principles of Physiological Psychology.

Email homework to me by the end of Wednesday 2nd November, so that I have time to look through them on the day before class. If you did not send me last weeks homework make sure to include that with this week's.

November 11th: From Husserl to Gestalt Psychology

• Käufer & Chemero ch. 2 and ch. 4
• Farrell ch. 13
• Homework: questions at end of ch. 13

For primary readings you may want to try:

• Koffka, K. (1922). Perception: An introduction to the Gestalt-theorie. Psychological Bulletin.
• Husserl, E. (1998). The Paris Lectures. Kluwer Academic Publishers Netherlands. (Original work published 1967)

Email homework to me by the end of Wednesday 9th November

November 18th: Merleau-Ponty and the Phenomenology of Perception

• Käufer & Chemero ch. 5
• Carman, T. (1999). The Body in Husserl and Merleau-Ponty. Philosophical Topics, 27(2), 205–226.
• GROUP PRESENTATION 1
• Homework: essay (800-1000 words) DUE NOVEMBER 20th. Title: "According to Merleau-Ponty what role does the body play in perception?"

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For the connection between Merleau-Ponty's approach and Gestalt Psychology see:

• Merleau-Ponty, M. (2013 [1945]). Phenomenology of perception. (D. A. Landes, Trans.). London: Routledge.
  • Introduction: Classical Prejudices and the Return to Phenomena

If you want to read more on the topic of Merleau-Ponty and the body, here is a good place to start:

• Merleau-Ponty, M. (2013 [1945]). Phenomenology of perception. (D. A. Landes, Trans.). London: Routledge.
  • Part One: The Body
• Carman, T. (2008). Merleau-Ponty. Routledge Philosophers. Taylor & Francis.
  • Chapter 3 ("Body and World")

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November 25th: Gibson and Affordances

• Käufer & Chemero ch. 7
• Chapter 8 "Affordances" of:
  • Gibson, J. J. (1986). The ecological approach to visual perception. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
• GROUP PRESENTATION 2

If you want to read more about Gibson's approach to perception, you may want to try:

• Gibson, J. J. (2002). A Theory of Direct Visual Perception. In A. Noe & E. Thompson (Eds.), Vision and Mind: Selected Readings in the Philosophy of Perception (pp. 77–89). MIT Press.
• Gibson, J. J., & Gibson, E. J. (1955). Perceptual learning: differentiation or enrichment? Psychological Review, 62(1), 32–41.

December 2nd: Enactive Perception

• Chapter 10 ("Enacting Perceptual Experience") of:
  • Clark, A. (2013). Mindware: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Cognitive Science (2nd ed.). New York, NY, USA: Oxford University Press.
• Noë, A. (2008). Précis of Action In Perception. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 76(3), 660–665.
• GROUP PRESENTATION 3

Here is another (longer) precis of Action in Perception that you may find helpful

• Noë, A., (2006). Précis of Action In Perception. Psyche, 12(1), 1.

December 9th: Embodied Prediction

• Chapter 6 "From Intelligent Machines to the Human Brain" by Peggy Seriès and Mark Sprevak, of
  • Massimi, M. (2014). Philosophy and the Sciences for Everyone. Routledge.
• Chapter 11 ("Prediction Machines") of:
  • Clark, A. (2013). Mindware: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Cognitive Science (2nd ed.). New York, NY, USA: Oxford University Press.
• Clark, A. (2015). Embodied Prediction. https://doi.org/10.15502/9783958570115
• GROUP PRESENTATION 4

Dec 16th: 2pm-6pm ** MINI-CONFERENCE !! ** Place: ** Forum Scientiarum **

• Double class: Individual Presentations. Your presentation should:
  • include a powerpoint/keynote/googleslides etc. presentation
  • last for 10 minutes
  • connect themes that have come up in class or in the readings to other work that you find interesting (perhaps from other classes/subjects)
  • be an opportunity for you to share with the class what you find interesting about the topic and what the class has made you think about

Dec 19th-23rd: Individual meetings to discuss proposed Hausarbeits (extended essays).

Hausarbeits are due February 1st 2017. Please email them to me.

If you now have a taste for the interdisciplinary investigation into perception and are interested in pursuing the topic further, you may want to try:

• Noë, A. (2004). Action in perception. MIT Press.
• Noë, A., & Thompson, E. (2002). Vision and Mind: Selected Readings in the Philosophy of Perception. A Bradford Book.
• Gallagher, S., & Zahavi, D. (2008). The Phenomenological Mind: An Introduction to Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science. Routledge.

For more on embodiment and experience:

• Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (2017 [1991]). The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience (2nd Revised Edition). MIT Press.
• Clark, A. (1997). Being there: putting brain, body, and world together again. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
• Gallagher, S. (2005). How the body shapes the mind. Oxford University Press.

And (rather more challenging, but very exciting...):

• Thompson, E. (2007). Mind in life: biology, phenomenology, and the sciences of mind. Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press.
• Chemero, A. (2009). Radical Embodied Cognitive Science. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
• Clark, A. (2015). Surfing Uncertainty: Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind. Oxford University Press.