Making sense of the senses: Individuating modalities in humans and other animals

Journal of Philosophy

Volumn 99, Issue 1, 2002, Pages 5-26

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EID: 18244400854     PISSN: 0022362X     EISSN: 19398549     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3655759     Document Type: Article

References (38)

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2. Norton Nelkin, "Categorising the Senses, " Mind and Language, V(1990): 149-65;
3. Dominic M. McIver Lopes, "What Is It Like to See with Your Ears? The Representational Theory of Mind, " Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, LX (2000): 439-53;
4. Peter W. Ross, "Qualia and the Senses, " Philosophical Quarterly, LI (2001): 495-511;
5. Alva Noē, "On What We See, " Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, LXXXIII (in press).
6. "Distinguishing the Senses, " Mind, LXXIX (1970): 530-50.
7. Deciphering the Senses: The Expanding World of Human Perception (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984).
8. Theodore H. Bullock and Raymond B. Cowles, "Physiology of an Infrared Receptor: The Facial Pit of the Pit Viper, " Science, CXV (1952):541-43;
9. reprinted in T. H. Bullock, How Do Brains Work? Papers of a Comparative Neurophysiologist (Boston: Birkhäuser, 1993), pp. 138-39.
10. D. A. Mann, Z. Lu, M. C. Hastings, and A. N. Popper, "Detection of Ultrasonic Tones and Simulated Dolphin Echolocation Clicks by a Teleost Fish, the American Shad (Alosa sapidissima), " Journal of the Acoustical Societyof America, CIV (1998): 562-68.
11. Donald R. Griffin and Robert Galambos, "The Sensory Basis of Obstacle Avoidance by Flying Bats, " Journal of Experimental Zoology, LXXXVI(1941): 481-506;
12. reprinted in L. D. Houck and L. C. Drickamer, eds., Foundations of Animal Behavior: Classic Papers with Commentaries (Chicago: University Press, 1996), pp. 553-78.
13. A. J. Kalmijn, "Electric and Magnetic Field Detection in Elasmobranch Fishes, " Science, CCXVIII (1982): 916-18.
14. See my "Fixing Content and Function in Neurobiological Systems: The Neuroethology of Electroreception, " Biology and Philosophy, XIV (1999):395-430;
15. and "Shocking Lessons from Electric Fish: The Theory and Practice of Multiple Realization, " Philosophy of Science, LXVII (2000): 444-65.
16. E. Gould, W. McShea, and T. Grand, "Function of the Star in the Star-nosed Mole, Condylura cristata, " Journal of Mammalogy, LXXIV (1993):108-16.
17. P. A. Schlegel and P. B. Richard, "Behavioral Evidence against Possible Subaquatic Electrosensitivity in the Pyrenean Desman Galemys pyrenaicus(Talpidae, mammalia), " Mammalia, LVI (1992): 527-32.
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19. "The Unusual Nose and Brain of the Star-nosed Mole: A Star in the Brain, " Bio Science, XLVI (1996): 578-86.
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21. Explaining Behavior: Reasons in a World of Causes (Cambridge: MIT, 1988).
22. The Structure of Appearance (Boston: Reidel, 1977, 3rd edition).
23. Clark, pp. 79-84.
24. See my "Neuroethology and the Philosophy of Cognitive Science, "Philosophy of Science (Proceedings), LXVII (2000): S404-17.
25. Brain Mechanisms in Sensory Substitution (New York: Academic, 1972).
26. or "primary objects" of perception (David H. Sanford, "The Primary Objects of Perception, " Mind, LXXXV (1976): 189-208).
27. (Cf. Dretske, "Reply to Lopes, " Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, LX (2000): 455-59.
28. In addition to Grice, Mark Leon - "Characterising the Senses, "Mind and Language, III (1988): 243-70 - also argues for a sensation-basedapproach to differentiating the senses. But he is mainly concerned to counterthe criticisms of Grice and to distinguish his account from belief-basedapproaches. He does not address the issues I raise here.
29. "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?" The Philosophical Review, LXXXIII (1974): 435-50.
30. M. Halpern, "The Organization and Function of the Vomeronasal System, " Annual Review of Neuroscience, X (1987): 325-62.
31. Elizabeth C. Crosby and Tryphena Humphrey, "Studies of the Vertebrate Telencephalon, " Journal of Comparative Neurology, LXXI (1939):121-213, especially p. 121.
32. Robert Taylor, "Brave New Nose: Sniffing Out Human Sexual Chemistry, " Journal of NIH Research, VI (1994): 47-51.
33. A. Johnson, R. Josephson, and M. Hawke, "Clinical and Histological Evidence for the Presence of the Vomeronasal (Jacobson's) Organ in Adult Humans, " Journal of Otolaryngology, XIV (1985): 71-79.
34. S. Takami, M. L. Getchell, Y. Chen, L. Monti-Bloch, D. L. Berliner, L. J.Stensaas, and T. V. Getchell, "Vomeronasal Epithelial Cells of the Adult Human Express Neuron-specific Molecules, " Neuro Report, IV (1993): 375-78.
35. L. Weiskrantz, Blindsight: A Case Study and Implications (New York:Oxford, 1986).
36. I am thinking here of synesthesia: Richard E. Cytowic, Synesthesia: AUnion of the Senses (New York: Springer, 1989),
37. The Man Who Tasted Shapes: A Bizarre Medical Mystery Offers Revolutionary Insights into Emotions, Reasoning and Consciousness (New York: Putnam, 1993),
38. and the McGurk effect - H. McGurk and J. Mac Donald, "Hearing Lipsand Seeing Voices, " Nature, CCLXIV (1976): 747-48. In theneurological-condition synesthesia, the proper objects of one sense result inexperiences in more than one modality - for example, "colored-hearing. " In the McGurk effect, normal humans will literally hear the same auditoryspeech stimulus differently, depending on what they see (lip movements of onesort versus another). It is not clear what effect such interaction betweensenses has on the story I am telling here. Unfortunately, to explore the issuefully would require another article.