PhilosopherNedBlockarguesinthisbookthatthereisa“jointinnature“betweenperceptionandcognitionandthatbyexploringthenatureofthatjoint,onecansolvemysteriesofthemind.Thefirsthalfofthebookintroducesamethodologyfordiscoveringwhatthefundamentaldifferencesarebetweencognitionandperceptionandthenappliesthatmethodologytoisolatehowperceptionandcognitiondifferinformatandcontent.Thesecondhalfdrawsconsequencesfortheoriesofconsciousness,usingresultsofthefirsthalftoargueagainstcognitivetheoriesofconsciousnessthatfocusonprefrontalcortex.Alongtheway,Blocktacklesquestionssuchas:Isperceptionconceptualandpropositional?Isperceptioniconicormoreakintolanguageinbeingdiscursive?Whatisthedifferencebetweentheformatandcontentofperception,anddoperceptionandcognitionhavedifferentformats?Isperceptionprobabilistic,andifso,whyarewenotnormallyawareofthisprobabilisticnatureofperception?Arethebasicfeaturesofmindknownas“corecognition“athirdcategoryinbetweenperceptionandcognition?Thisbookexploresthesequestionsnotbyappealsto“intuitions,“asiscommoninphilosophy,buttoempiricalevidence,includingexperimentsinneuroscienceandpsychology.Thisisanopenaccesspublication,availableonlineanddistributedunderthetermsoftheCreativeCommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives4.0Internationallicence(CCBY-NC-ND4.0),acopyofwhichisavailableathttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.EnquiriesconcerninguseoutsidethescopeofthelicencetermsshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress.
