The Senses
A Philosophical Introduction
Published on 1. September 2025
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-0-415-77674-5 (ISBN)
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-415-77674-5 (9780415776745)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Content
Part I. Philosophy and the Senses
1. Why the Senses?
1.1 Encountering the world through the senses
The senses, perception, and the world
1.2 Knowledge and the senses
The senses as sources of knowledge: Empiricism and rationalism
Should we trust our senses? Skepticism
1.3 Being and the senses
Appearance and reality
Primary and secondary qualities
1.4 Consciousness and the senses
Sensory experience
The mind-body problem
1.5 Strategy of the book
Philosophical preliminaries and background
Case studies
Philosophies of the senses
Sensory oddities
2. 'The Senses'
2.1 Concepts of 'sensation'
Sensing and experiencing
'Sensations'
Bodily sensations
Sensing and the reception of information
2.2 The senses and the mind
Sensing and mental states
Sensing and cognition
Sensing and perceiving
Sensing, consciousness, and qualia
2.3 The senses and the body
Physiological systems
Energy, information, and transduction
Sensing and the brain
2.4 Explananda
Spontaneity
Vividness
Cognitive role
Illusion
Transparency
Page 3 of 13
C. O'Callaghan - The Senses 6/28/07 9:35 AM
Individuation
Unity
3. Individuating the Senses
3.1 What is a sense modality?
What distinguishes the sense modalities?
How many senses do we have?
Could there be a missing sense?
3.2 Proper and common sensibles
Aristotle's criterion
Representation
The objects of sense
The contents of sense
Molyneux's question
3.3 Phenomenology
Qualia
Quality spaces (Clark)
3.4 Proximal stimulus
Physical stimulation (Heil)
3.5 Physiology
Channels of awareness
Function
Modularity
3.6 Ways of perceiving
The significance of the senses (Nudds)
Sensorimotor contingencies (O'Regan and Noe)
3.7 A naturalistic proposal
Folk psychology, cognitive and neural science (Keeley)
Part II. Philosophies of the Senses
4. Vision and seeing
4.1 Color and color experience
4.2 Space and vision
4.3 How much do we see?
4.4 Objects and visual objects
4.5 Causation and kinds
5. Audition and hearing
5.1 'Visuocentrism'
5.2 Audible qualities: pitch, timbre, and loudness
5.3 Hearing in time
5.4 Hearing and space
Page 4 of 13
C. O'Callaghan - The Senses 6/28/07 9:35 AM
5.5 Sounds
5.6 Auditory streams and events
5.7 Music and musical experience
5.8 Puzzles of speech
6. The Chemical Senses
6.1 Smell
What do we smell?
Smell and odors
Smell and space
Qualities, particulars, and olfaction
Directness and indirectness in sense perception
Pheromones and a vomeronasal sense?
6.2 Taste
The complexity of taste
The vocabulary of taste
Where are tastes?
Towards a philosophy of taste?
7. Tactile, Kinaesthetic, and Proprioceptive Senses
7.1 Tactile qualities
7.2 Touch and pain
7.3 The significance of tactile illusions
7.4 Two components of touch
7.5 Bodily awareness
7.6 The sense of movement and action
7.7 Action and perception
7.8 Body and self
Part III. Sensory Exotica
8. Synesthesia
8.1 Varieties of synesthesia
Grapheme-color
Sound-color
Lexical-taste
Taste-shape
8.2 What is the nature of synesthesia?
8.3 Synesthesia and functionalism
8.4 Synesthesia and representation
8.5 Is synesthesia perceptual?
8.6 Synethesia and creativity
Page 5 of 13
C. O'Callaghan - The Senses 6/28/07 9:35 AM
9. Molyneux's Question
9.1 A sketch of the problem
9.2 A priori considerations
9.3 Empirical considerations
9.4 Sensory substitution
Tactile vision substitution systems (TVSS)
9.5 Sensory plasticity
Auditory-visual rewiring in ferrets
10. Cross-modal Illusions
10.1 When the senses interact
10.2 Cross-modal illusions and interactions
Ventriloquism
Visual capture
The McGurk effect
Sound- and touch-induced flash illusions
10.3 Explaining cross-modal illusions
Unity assumptions
Sharing across the senses
10.4 Consequences of cross-modal illusions
Modularity
Multi-modal or amodal content
Phenomenology
10.5 The world-presenting character of sense perception
11. Alien Senses
11.1 The senses of non-human animals
Investigating alien senses
What is it like to be a bat?
11.2 Echolocation: Bats and dolphins
11.3 Electroreception: Fishes
11.4 Navigation: The sun, the stars, and magnetism
11.5 Lessons for the home case
12. A Philosophy of the Senses
12.1 Sensing and ...
Feeling
Perceiving
Knowing
Doing
12.2 Knowing the world
12.3 The philosophies of the senses
12.4 The future for the senses
1. Why the Senses?
1.1 Encountering the world through the senses
The senses, perception, and the world
1.2 Knowledge and the senses
The senses as sources of knowledge: Empiricism and rationalism
Should we trust our senses? Skepticism
1.3 Being and the senses
Appearance and reality
Primary and secondary qualities
1.4 Consciousness and the senses
Sensory experience
The mind-body problem
1.5 Strategy of the book
Philosophical preliminaries and background
Case studies
Philosophies of the senses
Sensory oddities
2. 'The Senses'
2.1 Concepts of 'sensation'
Sensing and experiencing
'Sensations'
Bodily sensations
Sensing and the reception of information
2.2 The senses and the mind
Sensing and mental states
Sensing and cognition
Sensing and perceiving
Sensing, consciousness, and qualia
2.3 The senses and the body
Physiological systems
Energy, information, and transduction
Sensing and the brain
2.4 Explananda
Spontaneity
Vividness
Cognitive role
Illusion
Transparency
Page 3 of 13
C. O'Callaghan - The Senses 6/28/07 9:35 AM
Individuation
Unity
3. Individuating the Senses
3.1 What is a sense modality?
What distinguishes the sense modalities?
How many senses do we have?
Could there be a missing sense?
3.2 Proper and common sensibles
Aristotle's criterion
Representation
The objects of sense
The contents of sense
Molyneux's question
3.3 Phenomenology
Qualia
Quality spaces (Clark)
3.4 Proximal stimulus
Physical stimulation (Heil)
3.5 Physiology
Channels of awareness
Function
Modularity
3.6 Ways of perceiving
The significance of the senses (Nudds)
Sensorimotor contingencies (O'Regan and Noe)
3.7 A naturalistic proposal
Folk psychology, cognitive and neural science (Keeley)
Part II. Philosophies of the Senses
4. Vision and seeing
4.1 Color and color experience
4.2 Space and vision
4.3 How much do we see?
4.4 Objects and visual objects
4.5 Causation and kinds
5. Audition and hearing
5.1 'Visuocentrism'
5.2 Audible qualities: pitch, timbre, and loudness
5.3 Hearing in time
5.4 Hearing and space
Page 4 of 13
C. O'Callaghan - The Senses 6/28/07 9:35 AM
5.5 Sounds
5.6 Auditory streams and events
5.7 Music and musical experience
5.8 Puzzles of speech
6. The Chemical Senses
6.1 Smell
What do we smell?
Smell and odors
Smell and space
Qualities, particulars, and olfaction
Directness and indirectness in sense perception
Pheromones and a vomeronasal sense?
6.2 Taste
The complexity of taste
The vocabulary of taste
Where are tastes?
Towards a philosophy of taste?
7. Tactile, Kinaesthetic, and Proprioceptive Senses
7.1 Tactile qualities
7.2 Touch and pain
7.3 The significance of tactile illusions
7.4 Two components of touch
7.5 Bodily awareness
7.6 The sense of movement and action
7.7 Action and perception
7.8 Body and self
Part III. Sensory Exotica
8. Synesthesia
8.1 Varieties of synesthesia
Grapheme-color
Sound-color
Lexical-taste
Taste-shape
8.2 What is the nature of synesthesia?
8.3 Synesthesia and functionalism
8.4 Synesthesia and representation
8.5 Is synesthesia perceptual?
8.6 Synethesia and creativity
Page 5 of 13
C. O'Callaghan - The Senses 6/28/07 9:35 AM
9. Molyneux's Question
9.1 A sketch of the problem
9.2 A priori considerations
9.3 Empirical considerations
9.4 Sensory substitution
Tactile vision substitution systems (TVSS)
9.5 Sensory plasticity
Auditory-visual rewiring in ferrets
10. Cross-modal Illusions
10.1 When the senses interact
10.2 Cross-modal illusions and interactions
Ventriloquism
Visual capture
The McGurk effect
Sound- and touch-induced flash illusions
10.3 Explaining cross-modal illusions
Unity assumptions
Sharing across the senses
10.4 Consequences of cross-modal illusions
Modularity
Multi-modal or amodal content
Phenomenology
10.5 The world-presenting character of sense perception
11. Alien Senses
11.1 The senses of non-human animals
Investigating alien senses
What is it like to be a bat?
11.2 Echolocation: Bats and dolphins
11.3 Electroreception: Fishes
11.4 Navigation: The sun, the stars, and magnetism
11.5 Lessons for the home case
12. A Philosophy of the Senses
12.1 Sensing and ...
Feeling
Perceiving
Knowing
Doing
12.2 Knowing the world
12.3 The philosophies of the senses
12.4 The future for the senses