Perception: First Form of Mind

by Tyler Burge

In First Form of Mind , Tyler Burge develops an understanding of the most primitive type of mental perception. Focusing on the functions and capacities of perceptual states, Burge accounts for their representational content and structure, and develops a formal semantics for them. The discussion explains the role of iconic format in the structure. It also situates the accounts of content, structure, and semantics within scientific explanations of perceptual-state formation, emphasizing formation of perceptual categorization. In the book's second half, Burge discusses what a perceptual system is. Exploration of relations between perception and other primitive capacities-conation, attention, memory, anticipation, affect, learning, and imagining-helps distinguish perceiving, with its associated capacities, from thinking, with its associated capacities. Drawing mainly on vision science, not introspection, First Form of Mind is a rigorous,
agenda-setting work in philosophy of perception and philosophy of science.

898 pages, Paperback

Published August 13, 2022