Contemporaryphilosophyofperceptionisdominatedbyhighlypolarizeddebates.Thepolarizationisparticularlyacuteinthedebatebetweenna簿verealistdisjunctivistsandtheiropponents,butdivisionsseemalmostasstarkinotherareasofdispute,forexample,thedebateoverwhetherweexperienceso-called’high-level’properties,andthedebateconcerningindividuationofthesenses.Theguidinghypothesisunderlyingthisvolumeisthatsuchpolarizationstemsfrominsufficientattentiontohowweshouldgoaboutsettlingthesedebates.Ingeneral,thereiswidespread,largelyimplicitdisagreementconcerningwhatphilosophicaltheoriesofperceptionaresupposedtoexplain,theclaimsthatweshouldholdfixedinthecourseoftheorizing,andthemethodsthatsuchtheorizingshouldemploy.Thegoalofthisvolumeistomovesuchmethodologicalquestionsfromthebackgroundtothefrontofthedebate,inthehopeoffacilitatingprogress.Thecontributionsconstituteaninitialefforttospurmoreexplicit,systematicdiscussionofmethodologyinphilosophyofperception,coveringawiderangeofrelevanttopics,fromtherelationbetweenscientificandphilosophicaltheorizingaboutperception,tolessonswecanlearnfromthehistoryofphilosophyofperception.
