Ways of Seeing The Scope and Limits of Visual Cognition

Cognitive neuroscience is a young field that has been incredibly successful in furthering our understanding of the human brain. Long before the emergence of this field, many of the same questions being posed within this field were asked by philosophers. So how much of this earlier work informs current theories of cognition? In many cases--too little. Yet how can we ignore thousands of years of philosophical thinking on the human mind? There are some questions about the human brain that are surely impossible to answer without considering what it "feels" like to see, what it "feels" like to think. Ways of Seeing is a unique collaboration between an eminent philosopher and a world famous neuroscientist. It focuses on one of the most basic human functions--vision. What does it mean to 'see'? It brings together electrophysiological studies, neuropsychology, psychophysics, cognitive psychology, and philosophy of mind. The first truly interdisciplinary book devoted to the topic of vision, this is a book will make a valuable contribution to the field of cognitive science.