Theorist of Perception, Philosopher of Mind
Saturday, February 7th, 2009
Coordination: Sabine PLAUD
Location : Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne – Department of Philosophy, 17, rue de la Sorbonne. 75005 Paris, Stair C, 1st Floor, Room Lalande
Program:
9. Am : Opening – Chair : Sabine Plaud (Université Paris 1 - EXeCO)
9.15 Am : Edwin Glassner (Wiener Kreis Institut, Vienna) : « Benno Erdmann's formal empiricism and the resolution of the tension between Helmholtz's causal theory of perception and his psychophysical parallelism »
10 Am : Matthias Neuber (University of Tübingen) : « Helmholtz's theory of space perception and its influence on Schlick »
10.45 Am : Coffee-break
11 Am : Antonia Soulez (Université Paris 8) : « Helmholtz et l’idée d’un système naturel de la musique »
11.45 Am : Frédéric Pascal (EHESS – Institut Jean Nicod): « La relation entre le monde physique, la sensation et la discrimination perceptive sur le domaine de l'acoustique et de l'audition »
12h30-14h : Lunch-Break
2 Pm : Chair : Guillaume Garreta (Université Paris 1, EXeCO, CIPh)
2 Pm : David J. Hyder (University of Ottawa) : « What does the transcendental argument of Helmholtz's first two papers on geometry prove? »
2.45 Pm : Christophe Bouriau and Gerhard Heinzmann (Archives Poincaré, Nancy) : « Perception et inférences inconscientes : le mythe de l'immédiateté perceptive »
3.30 Pm : Coffee-break
3.45 Pm : Michael Heidelberger (Université de Tübingen) : « Helmholtz criticized : Hering, Mach, Riehl, James »
4.30 Pm : Jean-Marie Chevalier (Université Paris-XII, Institut Jean Nicod) : « Un éclairage peircien sur la chromatique de Helmholtz »
5.15 Pm : Sabine Plaud (Université Paris 1 – ExeCO) : « Des faits dans la perception aux faits dans la proposition : L’articulation entre signe et image chez Helmholtz et Wittgenstein »
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Argument:
Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894) is doubtlessly one of the leading figures of German science in the late 19th century. Having an almost universal field of interests, he belongs to the last generation of scholars who can be described both as philosophers and as scientists. As a physicist, he provided significant contributions to the investigation of the laws of conservation of energy and to the principles of mechanics. As a psychologist, he is remembered for his influential inquiries in the interactions between physiological and psychical processes: his approach can thus be compared to Fechner’s own attempts to give birth to a psychophysical science.
Helmholtz’s claim that the physical and the psychical are interrelated has concrete consequences in the works he dedicated to the physiology of perception. His impressive Handbook of Physiological Optics thus articulates both the physiological and the psychological aspects of vision, by drawing a distinction between impressions, sensations and visual perceptions. Similarly, his Lehre von den Tonempfindungen can be rightly characterized as a revolutionary work, not only in virtue of its elucidation of harmony, but also in virtue of the overall psycho-physical theory of perception it implies.
This conference will aim at an exploration of these different aspects of Helmholtz’s insights. Besides his specifically scientific contributions, one may investigate the general theory of knowledge involved in his studies. One might, among others, focus on his concern for a semiotic account of perception, on his new exploration of Kantian themes, or on his theory of unconscious inferences. The conference will also examine Helmholtz’s radical influence on later thinkers, e.g. on Heinrich Hertz, who has been his assistant and one of his more brilliant students. Lastly, we will have the opportunity to clarify some applications of Helmholtz’s research in some unexpected fields, e.g. in aesthetics, where his physiological theory of harmony has provided musical composition with a new set of norms.
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