Is Tactual Knowledge of Space Grounded in Tactual Sensation?

Abstract

This chapter argues that while vision has only an objective aspect (e.g., we see the objects out there), touch has both subjective and an objective aspects. For example, one can feel a prickling sensation, that is, the subjective aspect of touch, and a pointed object out there, that is, an object aspect of touch. In light of this distinction, how can the claim that experience gives knowledge of our surroundings be understood in the case of touch experience? Unlike vision, one can hardly deny that there are tactile sensations, such as the bodily sensation one gets when a needle is injected in one’s arm. The question then is whether tactile sensations play an essential role in grounding our knowledge of the world. This chapter argues that even if we were to accept that the subjective aspect of touch is intrinsically spatial, we can still ask whether the knowledge we have from the objective aspect of touch is grounded in the knowledge that we have from its subjective aspect. Knowledge of our tactual sensations is grounded in our knowledge of our external environment, and consequently, the characteristics of our tactual sensations are grounded in our knowledge of our external environment. Whether consciousness is essential to our tactual knowledge of our surroundings is a separate matter. We can keep them separate by acknowledging that perceptual consciousness should not be analyzed in terms of sensation.