The Machine behind the Stage: A Neurobiological Approach toward Theoretical Issues of Sensory Perception

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Philosophy of Mind
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• The philosophy of perception grapples with the nature of sensory experiences and their relation to the external world.
• Existing theories often face ontological complexities when defining the 'object' of perception.

Purpose of the Study:

• To offer a scientific perspective on key issues in the philosophy of perception.
• To highlight the central role of brain mechanisms in generating perceptual experiences.
• To propose a framework for understanding perception distinct from knowledge acquisition.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis integrating neuroscience findings with philosophical arguments.
• Distinguishing physical properties of the world from psychological properties of perception.
• Analyzing the causal basis of brain activation patterns underlying perception.

Main Results:

• Perceptual experiences, including illusions and hallucinations, originate from specific brain activation patterns.
• The cause of brain activation, not the experience itself, differentiates perceptual states.
• Separating perceptual events from their content introduces unnecessary ontological issues.

Conclusions:

• Perception is fundamentally a brain process, with activation patterns as the common cause.
• A clear distinction exists between objective physical properties and subjective psychological properties.
• Knowledge acquisition is a cognitive process separate from and subsequent to perception, rendering perception neutral regarding truth.