"Perception is not something that happens to us, or in us," writes Alva                  No?. "It is something we do." In Action in Perception, No? argues that perception                  and perceptual consciousness depend on capacities for action and thought -- that                  perception is a kind of thoughtful activity. Touch, not vision, should be our model                  for perception. Perception is not a process in the brain, but a kind of skillful                  activity of the body as a whole. We enact our perceptual experience.To perceive,                  according to this enactive approach to perception, is not merely to have sensations;                  it is to have sensations that we understand. In Action in Perception, No?                  investigates the forms this understanding can take. He begins by arguing, on both                  phenomenological and empirical grounds, that the content of perception is not like                  the content of a picture; the world is not given to consciousness all at once but is                  gained gradually by active inquiry and exploration. No? then argues that perceptual                  experience acquires content thanks to our possession and exercise of practical                  bodily knowledge, and examines, among other topics, the problems posed by spatial                  content and the experience of color. He considers the perspectival aspect of the                  representational content of experience and assesses the place of thought and                  understanding in experience. Finally, he explores the implications of the enactive                  approach for our understanding of the neuroscience of perception.

Action in Perception PDF

The list of books you might like