History of Perception: Augustine on Active Perception and Awareness

What is it about?

Is perception something we do or something that happens to us? Augustine is often thought to have put forwardly a distinctively 'active' theory of perception, perhaps the first of its kind. In this paper, I clarify Augustine's account of perception, awareness, and representation, as well as its relation to earlier accounts (such as Aristotle's) and later philosophical accounts.

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Photo by timJ on Unsplash

Photo by timJ on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This article sheds light on an important but poorly understood episode in the history of philosophical thought about perception and shows how an extremely influential figure thought about a fundamental relation between mind and world.

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