The phenomenal unity of perceptual experience
Abstract: This thesis is concerned with phenomenal unity, a salient and important feature of our conscious lives, albeit one which has gone somewhat under-explained. My focus will on the phenomenal unity of perceptual experiences at a time, which is best illustrated by the following kind of example: whilst walking through the park, you notice a particular tree, whose foliage and bark have a particularly intense hue and strange texture. At the same time, there is a strong scent in the air, and you can feel the heat of the sun on your arms. Alongside this, birds are calling loudlyâŠ whilst undergoing all these different perceptual experiences, it strikes you that although these experiences correspond to different senses, they seem to be tied together in some important way: there is a unity to your overall perceptual experience at this time. Even in this mundane case, there are various ways in which my experiences are unified: the various properties of the objects that I represent via vision and touch are unified in the sense that they seem to inhere in the same object (and so are object unified), the various objects that I am seeing and touching all seem to me to be located in the same space (and so are spatially
Crutchfield, Stuart
B Philosophy (General) ; BF Psychology
The phenomenal unity of perceptual experience. Abstract: This thesis is concerned with phenomenal unity, a salient and important feature of our conscious lives, albeit one which has gone somewhat under-explained. My focus will on the phenomenal unity of perceptual experiences at a time, which is best illustrated by the following kind of example: whilst walking through the park, you notice a particular tree, whose foliage and bark have a particularly intense hue and strange texture. At the same time, there is a strong scent in the air, and you can feel the heat of the sun on your arms. Alongside this, birds are calling loudlyâŠ whilst undergoing all these different perceptual experiences, it strikes you that although these experiences correspond to different senses, they seem to be tied together in some important way: there is a unity to your overall perceptual experience at this time. Even in this mundane case, there are various ways in which my experiences are unified: the various properties of the objects that I represent via vision and touch are unified in the sense that they seem to inhere in the same object (and so are object unified), the various objects that I am seeing and touching all seem to me to be located in the same space (and so are spatially
phenomenal unity perceptual_experience abstract concerned phenomenal unity salient important_feature conscious life albeit somewhat under explained focus phenomenal unity perceptual_experience time best illustrate follow kind example whilst walk park notice particular tree whose bark particularly intense strange texture time strong air feel heat sun arm alongside bird call whilst undergoing different perceptual_experience strike although experience correspond different_sens seem tie together important way unity overall perceptual_experience time even mundane case various_way experience unify various property object represent via vision touch unify sense seem object object unify various object see touch seem locate space spatially