Thesis defence: François Le Corre (IJN)

Thesis defence:  François Le Corre (IJN)

PhD defence on Thursday 11th of December, at 2pm in the Institut Jean Nicod seminar room (Pavillon Jardin, 29 rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris).

Title: Distinguishing the Senses: Individuation and Classification.

Committee: Roberto Casati (directeur de thèse), Brian Keeley, Jean Lorenceau, Pascal Ludwig et Jean-Maurice Monnoyer 



"Distinguishing the Senses: Individuation and Classification"

Abstract:

This Dissertation is concerned with two theoretical issues about the senses. The first issue focuses on the question how the senses are to be individuated (Individuation Question). The strategy is to test the ability of the criteria of individuation available in the literature to withstand objections. I argue that the senses are to be individuated in terms of the environmental properties they give access to, and show that this criterion can withstand scrutiny. The second issue is the question of the ordinary classification of the senses into five modalities (Classification Question). On the basis of observations from anthropology and comparative linguistics, I argue that this belief in five senses, though quasi-universal, is nothing but a cultural artefact, a common sense collateral product. In addition, this Dissertation contains two supplementary studies, conducted in collaboration. The first study focuses on the question how people ordinarily distinguish among the senses. It is argued that people are sensitive both to the types of environmental properties the senses give access to and to the body parts they are attached to (Casati, Dokic & Le Corre, 2015, in Perception and Its Modalities, OUP). The second study is concerned with the phenomenon of sensory substitution that has long been considered a challenge against the criterion of environmental properties. It is argued that sensory substitution is no such challenge because the type of environmental information processed by a sensory substitution device is metamodal, i.e. accessible through any sensory modality (Martin & Le Corre, in press, in Mind and Language).