Is Seeing-in a Transparency Effect?

Newall, Michael (2015) Is Seeing-in a Transparency Effect? British Journal of Aesthetics, 55 (2). pp. 131-156. ISSN 0007-0904. (doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/aesthj/ayu101) (Full text available)

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Official URL https://doi.org/10.1093/aesthj/ayu101

Abstract

Philosophers of art use the term ‘seeing-in’ to describe an important part of our experience of pictures: we often ‘see’ a picture’s subject matter ‘in’ its surface. This paper proposes that seeing-in is illuminated by a perceptual phenomenon that has received extensive attention in perceptual psychology: the perception of transparency. It is generally accepted that transparency perception is governed by laws of ‘scission’. I argue that some instances of seeing-in can be straightforwardly understood as a kind of transparency effect, and that all seeing-in is illuminated by these laws.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BH Aesthetics
Divisions:	Faculties > Humanities > School of Arts Faculties > Humanities > School of Arts > History and Philosophy of Art
Depositing User:	Michael Newall
Date Deposited:	04 Mar 2017 18:11 UTC
Last Modified:	17 Jun 2017 23:00 UTC
Resource URI:	https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/60714 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)