Neopragmatism and Philosophy of Perception

Summary

Neopragmatism offers an anti-metaphysical approach to philosophical problems by shifting focus from metaphysics to language. In perception, this chapter uses neopragmatist techniques to undermine naïve realism, criticizing its metaphysical commitments and explaining away ideas like perceptual openness and insight into mind-independent reality. It proposes a positive adverbialist view where sensory states are information-bearing but not robustly representational.

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Abstract

Abstract Neopragmatism is an anti-metaphysical approach to philosophical problems. It addresses such problems by taking the focus off of metaphysics, and turning it onto language. That is, the neopragmatist seeks philosophically uncontentious explanations of the sort of talk that often gives rise to the sense that there is a deep philosophical puzzle to solve. In the domain of perception, reflection on apt ways of describing perceptual experiences have led to various metaphysically committing theories, including (i) sense data theory, (ii) representationalism, and (iii) naïve realism. This chapter uses neopragmatist techniques to undermine the case for the last of these. The attack is two-pronged. First, some of the metaphysical commitments of naïve realism are criticized. Second, neopragmatism is used to explain some of the ideas that were thought to lend naïve realism support. These include the idea that perceptual experience has a peculiar sort of openness or presentational character, and the related idea that such experience gives insight into the mind-independent character of the world. Beyond forming the basis for criticizing other views, neopragmatism also suggests a positive view of perception. This is a form of adverbialism that relies on the idea that our sensory states are information-bearing, but not, in any robust sense, representational.