Instrumentally Aided Perception and Ancient Ghosts

Abstract

The issues of how we are to understand human perception lie at the heart of many controversies in the philosophy of science today: how to construe empiricism without positivism, what credence to give realism, how to handle mind-body problems in the light of these changes, how to interpret human actions, and, finally, how to characterize science itself. In addition, the past decades have seen enormous progress both in the acquisition of scientific knowledge and in the manner in which it is found. Powerful new instruments for detecting data have been invented and deployed, often at great cost to society, and more are being devised each year. The resulting information, often in quantities too great for the human mind to keep track of, is analyzed by means of computers and supercomputers, which are themselves not fully understood, although of human fabrication. Indeed, one can build devices which combine both the ability to collect and analyze data, as in computerized axial tomography, or nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. Or one can construct devices for purposes of inquiry or industry which combine these abilities with that of the ability to act, at least in limited ways, as in the science of robotics. These developments and others have stimulated interest in what is now called 'cognitive science', a field to which psychology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, neurophysiology, linguistics, and other disciplines not previously accustomed to working together, have begun to contribute. The problems of perception have a home here also, but while it is too early to report significant progress in our understanding of them, they are being approached with new perspectives and a new sense of excitement. Against this background, I would like to draw attention to a number of matters concerning instrumentally aided human perception which have consequences for the larger issues mentioned above, and try to show what those consequences entail.