Abstract
Abstract This thesis is a discussion of the nature of perception with the debate between Hubert Dreyfus and John McDowell as a springboard into an investigation of the perceptual similarities, and differences, between human and animal perception. I criticize Dreyfus’ lack of commitment to the idea that humans and animals share a “space of motivations” through what I call the theory of “cultural penetration.” It is my claim that when it comes to the nature of human perception, Dreyfus is committed to a Heideggerian holism that deepens the perceptual divide between us and other animals. I then bring in J.J. Gibson, who through his ecological approach comes closer to conceiving of the similarities of human and animal perception through his concept of “affordances” – a concept that both Dreyfus and McDowell uses, albeit with a different focus than Gibson. However, it turns out that Gibson’s theory has drawbacks of its own, as the generality of “affordances” in Gibson’s conceptual scheme renders them ambiguous. The fact that “affordances” are shared between species can, on Gibson’s’ view render the similarities between us and other animals trivial. A philosopher I claim helps open up a discussion of the fundamental similarities, while retaining inherent differences between humans and animals by bringing in much needed animal examples is Alasdair McIntyre, whose views I will discuss at the end of the thesis.