This book reconsiders the major current topics in the philosophy of perception using olfaction as the paradigm sense. The author reveals how many of the most basic concepts of philosophy of perception are based on peculiarities of visual perception not found in other modalities, and addresses how different the philosophy of perception would be if based on olfaction. The book addresses several aspects of olfaction, including perceptual qualities, percepts, olfaction and cognitive processes, and consciousness.
The first part of the book considers perception with respect to its ability to guide behaviors and to make information available to cognitive processes. The author continues by addressing the differences between conscious and non-conscious olfactory perception, and presents an argument for an important role of attention in conscious processes. The book concludes by discussing the function of conscious brain processes and their link to guiding behaviors in complex situations.
Introduction: Why study philosophy of olfactory perception?.- PART I: PERCEPTUAL QUALITIES.- Chapter 1: Perceptual quality space.- Chapter 2: Third-person access to perceptual qualities.- PART II: PERCEPTS.- Chapter 3: Olfactory objects.- Chapter 4: The function of perception.- PART III: OLFACTION AND COGNITIVE PROCESSES.- Chapter 5: Availability of olfactory information for cognitive processes.- Chapter 6: Modulation of olfactory perception.- PART IV: CONSCIOUSNESS.- Chapter 7: Mechanisms of consciousness.- Chapter 8: Function of conscious brain activities.- Conclusion: Comparing olfaction and vision.- Acknowledgments.- Illustration credits.- References.
There is much to admire in Kellers book. It is a clear and engaging presentation of much recent research on olfaction and could help to bring the interest and puzzles of olfaction to a wider audience. & it does a very good job even if there is, as one would suspect,lÃÊ
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