Spatial experience, spatial reality, and two paths to primitivism

Thomas Saad

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

I explore two views about the relationship between spatial experience and spatial reality: spatial functionalism and spatial presentationalism. Roughly, spatial functionalism claims that the instantiated spatial properties are those playing a certain causal role in producing spatial experience while spatial presentationalism claims that the instantiated spatial properties include those presented in spatial experience. I argue that each view, in its own way, leads to an ontologically inflationary form of primitivism: whereas spatial functionalism leads to primitivism about phenomenal representation, spatial presentationalism leads to primitivism about spatial properties. I conclude by discussing how to adjudicate between spatial functionalism and spatial presentationalism.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)469-491
JournalSynthese
Volume199
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2021
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Spatial functionalism
  • Phenomenal representation
  • Spatial experience
  • Reduction
  • Brains in vats
  • Handedness
  • Special relativity

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