180084 KU The Epistemology of Perception and Memory (2025W)

The course gives a general overview of the epistemology of perception and memory and an introduction into the central positions and notions in these two fields. Perception and memory are among the most important sources of knowledge (maybe the two most important ones). But how reliable are they as a source of knowledge? Perceptual illusions or hallucinations can deceive us. Does perception give us direct access to external things or only access to our internal states? How accurate is our memory of the past, given that we can misremember, reconstruct and reinvent it? Perception and memory can be considered as a foundation for our knowledge, but they can also give rise to skeptical worries. In order to examine these epistemological issues concerning perception and memory, the course will present the main theories in the philosophy of perception and in the philosophy of memory and it will examine the epistemological issues they raise. After a short introduction to the main positions in epistemology, the course will be divided into two main blocks: a block on the epistemology of perception and a block on the epistemology of memory. In the first block, we will present and discuss the main contemporary theories of perception, always with a focus on their consequences for epistemology: indirect realism and the sense-data theory, intentionalism, direct (or naïve) realism, disjunctivism and enactivism. In connection with these theories, we will examine in what sense they might support such epistemological positions as foundationalism, relativism or skepticism. We will especially have a look at the new foundationalism represented by reliabilism (i. e. perception is a reliable source of knowledge), dogmatism (i. e. perception can be prima facie trusted in the absence of defeaters) and phenomenal conservatism (i. e. the phenomenal character of perception gives prima facie justification for our knowledge). We will also examine the epistemological problems posed by illusions, hallucinations, the cognitive penetration of perception and the interference of attention (or inattention) with perception. Among the authors we will consider here are Bertrand Russell, Fred Dretske, John McDowell, Susannah Siegel, Alva Noe, Jim Pryor and Michael Huemer.
The second block of the course is dedicated to the epistemology of memory. Here again, we will present the main current theories of memory and their epistemological consequences. We will look at the classical empiricist theory of memory, the epistemic theory of memory, the causal theory of memory and the simulationist theory of memory. In relation to these conceptions of memory we will discuss a certain number of epistemological positions, such as preservationism (i.e. memory is just a preservation of non-memorial knowledge), generativism (i.e. memory can itself create new knowledge not derived from other sources of knowledge), foundationalism (memory states give prima facie justification for knowledge), coherentism and skepticism. In this block, we will discuss such authors as Tyler Burge, Robert Audi, Jennifer Lackey, Sven Bernecker, Kourken Michaelian and Filipe De Brigard.

The course will explore such questions as: What is perceptual knowledge and memory-knowledge? How can perception and memory be a justification for our knowledge and for propositional beliefs? Can perceptual knowledge or memory-knowledge be certain? Can our beliefs change what we perceive? Can memory generate new knowledge? These questions of epistemology will be analyzed, discussed and put in the context of contemporary debates and theories in the field.