Dr. Gibson does not treat of the different senses as mere producers of visual, auditory, tactual, or other sensations. Rather, he regards them as active seeking mechanisms for looking, listening, touching, and the like. This means that the emphasis is on explanations of how we are able to have the constant perceptions that we need for effective action and avoidance of physical harm in our everyday lives. The author clearly supports his view that the perception of reality is not something assembled or computed by the brain from an ever-varying kaleidoscope of sensations. He emphasizes the importance of regarding the different perceptual systems not only as active, but also interrelated.

A Collection of Classic and Contemporary Articles on the Philosophy of the Senses --

This is a book about how we see: the environment around us (its surfaces, their layout, and their colors and textures); where we are in the environment; whether or not we are moving and, if we are, where we are going; what things are good for; how to do things (to thread a needle or drive an automobile); or why things look as they do. The basic assumption is that vision depends on the eye which is connected to the brain. The author suggests that natural vision depends on the eyes in the head on a body supported by the ground, the brain being only the central organ of a complete visual system. When no constraints are put on the visual system, people look around, walk up to something interesting and move around it so as to see it from all sides, and go from one vista to another. That is natural vision -- and what this book is about.

James J. Gibson’s numerous theoretical and empirical contributions to the understanding of how people perceive were innovative, controversial, often radical, and always profound. Many of his ideas revolutionized the science of perception, and his influence continued to grow throughout the world. This book, originally published in 1982, is a collection of the most important of Gibson’s essays on the psychology of perception. Drawing from the entire corpus of Gibson’s papers, the editors have selected over thirty works dealing with such diverse topics as ecological optics, event perception, pictorial representation, and the conceptual foundations of psychology. The editors’ goals in preparing the volume were twofold: first to provide easy access to Gibson’s most outstanding papers and talks, including some that were previously unpublished; and second, to provide an intellectual biography of Gibson by including essays from the different periods of his career.

Brian J. Rogers analyses the psychological and philosophical aspects of perception, and argues that what we see is not what we perceive. He investigates recent insights gained from the use of imaging techniques, and the attempts to model perceptual processes in AI systems.