Ecological and Phenomenological Contributions to the Psychology of Perception

Abstract

Since its emergence in the mid19th century, the Darwinian theory of evolution has had a significant and far-reaching impact on the life sciences. Within the discipline of psychology in particular, evolutionary theory has transformed the approach to many traditional issues, such as the nature and function of social behavior (cf. Hinde [14]). Curiously, however, it has had only a limited influence on the psychological study of perception. In this paperwe shall examine the standard approach to visual perception in light of evolutionary theory. We shall then contrast this perceptual theory with an alternative, proposed by James J. Gibson, which we find to be more thoroughly grounded in an evolutionary point of view. Finally, we shall consider a role which phenomenology can play in developing this ecological or naturalistic approach to perception. Although an increasing number of philosophers and psychologists are becoming acquainted with the ecological approach to perception, many more remain unaware of the possibilities which it offers. In this context, we have chosen to present a relatively general and open-ended position paper, which raises a number of issues, and so is intended to draw more widespread attention to this important theoretical option.