Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-kwt9d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T00:53:53.309Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Deep Plasticity: The Encoding Approach to Perceptual Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Mark Rollins
Mark Rollins*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy Washington University
*
†Send reprint requests to the author, Department of Philosophy, Washington University, Campus Box 1073, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899, USA.
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The basic problem of perceptual change is how to account for both variation and constancy in perceiving the world. Is order learned? How deep does plasticity go in that respect? I argue that different kinds of perceptual plasticity have been confused in recent debates, notably between J. Fodor and P. M. Churchland. By focusing on changes in the use of concepts, the issues in the Fodor-Churchland debate can be resolved. Beyond that debate, I propose a generalized encoding approach to perception as a way of accounting for a significant form of perceptual change.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 61 , Issue 1 , March 1994, pp. 39 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 by the Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Cherniak, C. (1986), Minimal Rationality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Churchland, P. (1979), Scientific Realism and the Plasticity of Mind. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511625435CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Churchland, P. (1988), “Perceptual Plasticity and Theoretical Neutrality: A Reply to Jerry Fodor”, Philosophy of Science 55: 167–187.10.1086/289425CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Churchland, P. (1989), A Neurocomputational Perspective: The Nature of Mind and the Structure of Science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Fodor, J. (1984), “Observation Reconsidered”, Philosophy of Science 51: 23–43.10.1086/289162CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fodor, J. (1988), “A Reply to Churchland's ‘Perceptual Plasticity and Theoretical Neutrality‘”, Philosophy of Science 55: 188–198.10.1086/289426CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fodor, J. (1990), A Theory of Content. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Schacter, D. (1989), “Memory”, in Posner, M. I. (ed.), Foundations of Cognitive Science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 683–725.Google Scholar
Tulving, E. (1983), Elements of Episodic Memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar