PHIL31030

Learning Outcomes:

Students who successfully complete this module will:

(1) have a good grasp of some of the central issues in contemporary philosophy of perception and the senses
(2) have engaged critically with the most important views and arguments in this area, and
(3) have developed some independent thoughts and arguments on those issues.

Indicative Module Content:

The precise topics covered each year may vary, but may include:

• How many senses do we have, and what are they? (Hint: there are more than five!)
• Can our thoughts or beliefs influence what we perceive?
• What are the objects of visual, tactile, auditory, taste and smell experience?
• How do various senses interact in multisensory experience?
• What can hallucination and illusion teach us about ordinary experience?
• What would it mean for perception to be a “controlled hallucination”?
• How do we experience space and time across different sensory modalities?

Student Effort Hours:

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

The module will be taught using a combination of weekly 2-hour interactive lectures, during which students are encouraged to ask questions and raise issues of interest, plus 1-hour tutorials (Weeks 2 to 12) which will focus on detailed reading and discussion of assigned readings, plus independent reading and reflection.

You may use generative AI in assignments for certain purposes only under the guidance of your module coordinator, and within academic integrity guidelines.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.

Module Requisites and Incompatibles

Additional Information:
Students should have taken at least two other philosophy modules prior to commencing the module, or have relevant background from another subject (e.g. Psychology or Cognitive Science).


 

Assessment Strategy

 

Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

Barwich, Ann-Sophie (2020). Smellosophy: What the Nose Tells the Mind. Harvard University Press.
Fish, William. (2021). Philosophy of Perception: A Contemporary Introduction, Second Edition. New York: Routledge. ISBN: 978-0415999120
Gendler, Tamar Szabo, & John Hawthorne (eds.) (2006). Perceptual Experience. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199289769.001.0001
Haddock, Adrian & Fiona Macpherson (eds.) (2008). Disjunctivism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978-0199693085
Macpherson, Fiona (ed.) (2011). The Senses: Classic and Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives. Oxford University Press.
Matthen, Mohan (ed.) (2015). The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Perception. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199600472.001.0001
Noë, Alva & Evan Thompson (eds.) (2002). Vision and Mind: Selected Readings in the Philosophy of Perception, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN: 0-262-64047-3
Nudds, Matthew, & Casey O’Callaghan (eds.) (2009). Sounds and Perception: New Philosophical Essays, Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199282968.001.0001
O’Callaghan, Casey (2017). Beyond Vision: Philosophical Essays. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198782964.001.0001
O’Callaghan, Casey (2019). A Multisensory Philosophy of Perception. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198833703.001.0001
Reid, Thomas (1997), An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense, D. R. Brookes (ed.), Edinburgh University Press.
Stokes, Dustin, Mohan Matthen, & Stephen Biggs (eds.) (2014). Perception and Its Modalities. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199832798.001.0001
Wilson, Keith A., & Fiona Macpherson (2018). ‘The Senses’. In D. Pritchard (ed.), Oxford Bibliographies in Philosophy. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780195396577-0368
Young, Benjamin (2024). Stinking Philosophy! Smell Perception, Cognition, and Consciousness. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/15373.001.0001 [open access]

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.