Normativity in Perception

Human activity is permeated by norms of all sorts: moral norms provide the 'code' for what we ought to do, norms of logic regulate how we ought to reason, scientific norms set the standards for what counts as knowledge, legal norms determine what is lawfully permitted and what isn't, aesthetic norms establish canons of beauty and shape artistic trends and practices, and socio-cultural norms provide criteria for what counts as tolerable, just, praiseworthy, or unacceptable in a community or milieu. Given the diversity of norm-governed phenomena prevailing in our everyday experience, it is not surprising that the question of normativity has recently generated important debates in philosophy. However, the more specific question concerning the nature and function of 'norms in perceptual experience' has received comparatively little attention. This volume brings together scholars from philosophy of mind, philosophy of perception, and phenomenology to explore this question.

Maxime Doyon is Professor of Philosophy at the Universite de Montreal, Canada. He teaches and publishes in phenomenology, philosophy of perception, and philosophy of mind.

Thiemo Breyer is Professor for Transformations of Knowledge at the University of Cologne, Germany and Fellow at the Mahindra Humanities Center, Harvard University, USA. His research is in the fields of phenomenology, philosophy of mind, and philosophical anthropology.