Dear all The fourth CamPoS seminar of Lent term will be given by Dr Peter Epstein <http://www.peterfisherepstein.com/ <http://www.peterfisherepstein.com/>>, Junior Research Fellow in philosophy at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Details as follows:
Time: Today, 1-2:30pm Place: Seminar Room 2, Department of History and Philosophy of Science (Free School Lane, CB2 3RH) Title: Spatial experience: more than mere structure Abstract: According to a widely-held view of spatial experience known as structuralism, perceptual representations of spatial features are merely structurally isomorphic to abstract Euclidean geometry; they do not themselves comprise substantive Euclidean concepts. Building off of a distinction between geometrical and merely metaphorical spaces developed by Tim Maudlin, I show that this structuralist view fails to explain the way in which we apply our Euclidean concepts to the spatial features we perceive. For, on the structuralist picture, the results of Euclidean geometry would be equally applicable in perception to any set of features isomorphic to Euclidean space. Colours are one such set of features: their variations along the dimensions of hue, saturation and brightness can be used to generate a (metaphorical) colour 'space' that maps onto the structure of Euclidean space. But we do not perceive colours, in spite of their being isomorphic to the features we reason about in Euclidean proof, as instances of Euclidean spatial relations – we do not see groups of objects as, say, square in virtue of their colour properties. It is only when we perceive the literal spatial features of objects – for example, when we see a chessboard as a square – that we take our geometrical concepts to be applicable. This shows that, unlike in the case of colour, the connection between our spatial experience and our geometrical reasoning is more than merely structural. Full information about the talk is here: https://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/118324 <https://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/118324> The term card for Lent 2019 is available at https://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/news-events/seminars-reading-groups/campos <https://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/news-events/seminars-reading-groups/campos> You can also follow us at https://twitter.com/CamPhilSci <https://twitter.com/CamPhilSci> All are welcome. All the best Matt Dr Matt Farr • Teaching Associate in Philosophy of Science University of Cambridge • Department of History & Philosophy of Science Free School Lane | Cambridge | CB2 3RH w mattfarr.co.uk <http://www.mattfarr.co.uk/> | e [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> | t 01223334559 _____________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from the CamPhilEvents mailing list, or change your membership options, please visit the list information page: http://bit.ly/CamPhilEvents List archive: http://bit.ly/CamPhilEventsArchive Please note that CamPhilEvents doesn't accept email attachments. See the list information page for further details and suggested alternatives.
