Schedule

Schedule: We will meet for four weeks. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays will usually be structured by several morning sessions, followed by a lunch break, and then one or two afternoon sessions. On Thursdays and Fridays we will have morning sessions only. At the end of each week, we will have a roundtable discussion of the week's topics. 

Background reading: We have identified a few readings that are useful background for the institute, as well as background reading specific to each week. 

Visiting faculty will be discussing texts as well, which they will assume that you will have read them.

Participants are scheduled to present their research, and many of you have identified background reading for your presentations. It is probably safest to assume that not everyone will have had a chance to read the background texts. We are glad to be collecting them, though, since others may wish to revisit them after hearing your presentation.

In the weeks leading up to the institute, we encourage you read these texts if you haven't already.

Background readings to the institute:

Jerry Fodor's 1983 book The Modularity of Mind and his debate with Paul Churchland from the 1980's ("Observation Reconsidered" by Fodor, "Perceptual plasiticity and theoretical neutrality" by Churchland) are classic works about the effects on perception of theories and beliefs. 

The directors have written (and co-written) two pieces that provide an overview of perceptual justification: "The Epistemology of Perception", which we co-authored, and "The epistemology of cognitive penetration", by Nico.

Susanna's book The Rationality of Perception treats many of the topics of the institute, and will be published in early 2017. 

Background to Week 1, on varieties of top-down effects on perception:

Background to Week 2, on the epistemology of top-down effects on perception: 

Siegel, "Cognitive Penetrability and Perceptual Justification"

Rescorla, "Bayesian Perceptual Psychology"

Background to Week 3, on ethics and politics:

Background to Week 4, on aesthetics:

Visiting Speakers and Topics:

Week 1: Varieties of Top-Down Effects

Fiona Macpherson (Glasgow): "Defining cognitive penetration, and what evidence there is that it occurs"

Jessica Moss (NYU): "Character and perception in Aristotle"

Michael Brownstein (CUNY, John Jay): "Implicit bias: Perception and change"

Jonathan Dancy (UT Austin): "Moral Perception"

Week 2: Epistemology of Top-Down Effects

Anya Farennikova (Bristol): "Bayesianism and the Distinction Between Perception and Belief"

Eric Mandelbaum (CUNY, Baruch): "The perception/cognition border (and anti-Bayesianism)"

Matthew McGrath (Missouri-Columbia): "The epistemology of cognitive penetration"

Anil Gupta (Pittsburgh): "Appearances and their role in cognition"

Week 3: Moral and Political Perception

Kristie Dotson (Michigan State): "Epistemic oppression"

Jason Stanley (Yale): "Stereotypes and Perception"

Phia Salter (Texas A&M): "The racial politics of knowledge and racism perception"

Rae Langton (Cambridge): "Evaluative perception and the plasticity of mind"

Week 4: Aesthetic and Evaluative Perception

Winnie Wong (UC Berkeley): "The global supply chain of readymade dreams"

Jonathan Kramnick (Yale): "Perception in contemporary fiction"

Ernest Sosa (Rutgers): "Epistemic virtue"