Perception is not all-purpose

I aim to show that perception depends counterfactually on the action we want to perform. Perception is not all-purpose: what we want to do does influence what we see. After clarifying how this claim is different from the one at stake in the cognitive penetrability debate and what counterfactual dependence means in my claim, I will give a two-step argument: (a) ones perceptual attention depends counterfactually on ones intention to perform an action (everything else being equal) and (b) ones perceptual processing depends counterfactually on ones perceptual attention (everything else being equal). If we put these claims together, what we get is that ones perceptual processing depends counterfactually on ones intention to perform an action (everything else being equal).

Publication year:2021

Keywords:A1 Journal article

Accessibility:Open