Realism without tears II: The structuralist legacy of sensory physiology.

The Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies, formulated by Johannes Peter Müller, holds that the qualities of perceptual experience are determined by the sensory nerves themselves rather than by external causes. This paper argues that the methodological principles behind the Doctrine remain valid in contemporary psychology, so any naturalistic philosophy of perception must accept its skeptical conclusion: perceptual qualities do not reveal the nature of their causes. However, this does not require global skepticism. The paper advocates epistemic structural realism, following Hermann von Helmholtz, as the proper response: active exploration shapes perceptual experience, aligning with modern embodied cognition theories. Structural realism in philosophy of science can also learn from the Doctrine's history.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This paper examines the implications of the Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies for contemporary philosophy and psychology. Part I analyzed Johannes Peter Müller's canonical formulation of the Doctrine, arguing that it follows from empirical results combined with methodological principles. Here, I argue that these methodological principles remain valid in psychology today, consequently, any naturalistic philosophy of perception must accept the Doctrine's skeptical conclusion, that the qualities of our perceptual experience are not determined by, and thus do not reveal the nature of, their causes in the world. Nevertheless, this does not mean that we must be global skeptics; rather, I argue that contemporary epistemology of perception should embrace Müller's own response to the Doctrine: epistemic structural realism. As articulated by Müller's student, Helmholtz, structural realism follows from the Doctrine once we recognize that active exploration constitutes part of the mechanism that determines perceptual experience, a view congenial to contemporary theories of embodied perception in cognitive science. Structural realists in philosophy of science should likewise heed the lessons of the Doctrine, as it played a critical part in the early history of their view, and may still serve a constructive role as exemplar today.