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The Rationality of Perception : Replies to Lord, Railton, and Pautz
Author(s) -
Siegel Susanna
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
philosophy and phenomenological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1933-1592
pISSN - 0031-8205
DOI - 10.1111/phpr.12737
Subject(s) - rationality , citation , classics , philosophy , library science , art , computer science , epistemology
The epistemic roles that I attribute to perceptual experiences are best brought out by a subclass of cases in which perceptual experiences are heavily shaped by prior outlooks. These cases are designed to bring specific kinds of epistemic flaws in inference into focus by providing concrete examples in which we can see the flaws operate. For instance, consider a preformationist who holds this theory on poor grounds and claims to see embryos in spermcells viewed under a microscope. If his visual experience presented him with spermcells, and did so because he favored preformationism, I argue, his visual experience would inherit the poor epistemic status of his belief in preformationism. Both that belief and the perceptual experience would be redound poorly on his rational standing.