"Perceptual representation, veridicality, and the interface theory of perception"
Professor Cohen: “But HSP’s case against veridical perception, and their case for an alternative account, turn crucially on significant misapprehensions in the early going about what veridicality amounts to. ...”
“Finally, it would seem that Hoffman, Singh, and Prakash’s supposedly alternative, 'interface' picture of perception is in fact no less committed to veridical perceptual representation than the views they aim for it to replace. ..."
“... In the end, I’ll conclude, HSP give us no reasons to abandon the standard view that perception veridically represents the world.” Jonathan Cohen
“Perceptual representation, veridicality, and the interface theory of perception,” another paper, another perspective, another impressive thought provoking read that I liked because it resonated with my own ideas on the matter.
Cohen’s paper weighs in at 5500 words and my first culling for highlights, came in at 1800 words. After a few rereads and some brutal deletions, I have this summary down to <500 words worth of highlights (food for thought) that I hope will encourage you to read the entire paper. It's open access
In for a nickel, in for a dollar.
I thought I had finished with this review section of my “Hoffman playing basketball in zero gravity” and that my last act, before move on, was to send a short email to professor Hoffman asking if he’d responded to Dr. Mausfeld’s critique. That netted me nine additional studies courtesy of Hoffman, now I feel obliged to read through them, and to share highlights from those that resonate with the points I was trying to get across during my book review.
That's because I want this students guide to include as many informative expert voices as I can find, so please bear with me.
What am I trying to accomplished with all this? (Continued below Cohen’s quotes.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Perceptual representation, veridicality, and the interface theory of perception
- Jonathan Cohen, published October 15, 2015
volume 22, pages 1512–1518(2015)
Hoffman, Singh, and Prakash (henceforth, HSP) … put forward an alternative “interface” theory, on which perception is an adaptively useful but truth-obscuring veil between perceiver and perceived. But HSP’s case against veridical perception, and their case for an alternative account, turn crucially on significant misapprehensions in the early going about what veridicality amounts to.
In this paper I’ll identify this mistake, and then argue that it both undercuts HSP’s arguments against perceptual veridicality
and prevents them from seeing that their own preferred conception of perception is itself committed to veridical representation, rather than an alternative to it.
