18th Century Lecture with Jonathan Kramnick: Presence of Mind

This talk considers anti-representational models of perception in eighteenth-century philosophy, aesthetics, and literature--the idea that what minds and works of art do is make the world present to us rather than represent it at a remove, and that perceiving is active contact not passive contemplation. Focusing on the loco-descriptive poetry of Dyer, Thomson, and Cowper, the aesthetic theory of Hogarth, the perceptual psychology of Berkeley and Reid, and some moments in Sterne, Professor Kramnick shows us how this anti-representational genealogy plays out in contemporary philosophy and science of mind. His interest is a dissident tradition of thought that emphasizes tactility rather than vision (or conceives of vision as a kind of touch) and values naiveté rather than skepticism.

 

**Following the lecture there will be a reception at the home of Sandra Macpherson and Luke Wilson, 239 E. Torrence Rd. All are welcome!