Burge on perception and sensation

Lauren Olin

pp. 1479-1508

in: Gualtiero Piccinini (ed), Neuroscience and its philosophy, Synthese 193 (5), 2016.

Abstract

In Origins of Objectivity Burge advances a theory of perception according to which perceptions are, themselves, objective representations. The possession of veridicality conditions by perceptual states—roughly, non-propositional analogues of truth-conditions—is central to Burge’s account of how perceptual states differ, empirically and metaphysically, from sensory states. Despite an impressive examination of the relevant empirical literatures, I argue here that Burge has not succeeded in securing a distinction between perception and “mere” sensation.