<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Can we really perceive absences, i.e., missing things? Sartre tells us that when he arrived late for his appointment at the café, he saw the absence of his friend Pierre. Is that really what he saw? Where was it, exactly? Why didn’t Sartre see the absence of other people who were not there? Why did other people who were there not see the absence of Pierre? The perception of absences gives rise to a host of conundrums and is constantly on the verge of conceptual confusion. Here I focus on the need to be clear about four sorts of distinctions: (i) the difference between perceiving an absence and perceiving something that is absent; (ii) the difference between perceiving an absence and an absence of perceiving; (iii) the difference between perceiving an absence and perceiving something as an absence; and (iv) the difference between perceiving an absence and perceiving that something is absent.</p>
</abstract>

Can we really perceive absences, i.e., missing things? Sartre tells us that when he arrived late for his appointment at the café, he saw the absence of his friend Pierre. Is that really what he saw? Where was it, exactly? Why didn’t Sartre see the absence of other people who were not there? Why did other people who were there not see the absence of Pierre? The perception of absences gives rise to a host of conundrums and is constantly on the verge of conceptual confusion. Here I focus on the need to be clear about four sorts of distinctions: (i) the difference between perceiving an absence and perceiving something that is absent; (ii) the difference between perceiving an absence and an absence of perceiving; (iii) the difference between perceiving an absence and perceiving something as an absence; and (iv) the difference between perceiving an absence and perceiving that something is absent.

On Perceiving Abs nces

Gestalt Theory

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"On Perceiving Abs nces"}

Can we really perceive absences, i.e., missing things? Sartre tells us that when he arrived late for his appointment at the café, he saw the absence of his...

On Perceiving Abs nces

Article Category: Original Contributions - Originalbeiträge

Publié en ligne: 07 avr. 2023

Pages: 213 - 242

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gth-2022-0022

Mots clés
Absence, perception, figure-ground, seeing-as, seeing-that

© 2022 Achille C. Varzi, published by Sciendo.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

On Perceiving Abs nces

Article Category: Original Contributions - Originalbeiträge

Publié en ligne: 07 avr. 2023

Pages: 213 - 242

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gth-2022-0022

Mots clésAbsence, perception, figure-ground, seeing-as, seeing-that

© 2022 Achille C. Varzi, published by Sciendo.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Mots clés
Absence, perception, figure-ground, seeing-as, seeing-that