2024/07/31 by Samantha Vice · 1 voice
Environmental Science · Neuroscience · #Aesthetic Perception and Analysis #Embodied and Extended Cognition #Environmental Philosophy and Ethics
paper · doi:10.1093/aesthj/ayae010
openalex publication_date 2024/07/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Abstract Conceptualism in natural aesthetics takes knowledge of natural objects to be necessary for their appropriate appreciation. Concentrating on animals, I explore a particular version of conceptualism – functionalism – in light of debates about the effects of cognition on perception - so-called ‘cognitive penetration of perception.’ I establish the claims about cognitive penetration to which functionalism is committed, and assess the implications of its assumptions for the normative claim that functional appreciation is most appropriate to nature. I argue that functionalism has not yet provided strong reasons for thinking that knowledge affects perception in the relevant ways, and in ways required by its normative claims.