Don't Stare, Compare! Lotze on Attention

TY - JOUR

T1 - Don't Stare, Compare! Lotze on Attention

AU - Textor, Mark

PY - 2024/10/16

Y1 - 2024/10/16

N2 - Nineteenth century treatments of attention often argued that analysis (attention singles out an object) and synthesis (attention unifies some objects) are inseparable aspects of this activity. Subsequent philosophical work on attention concentrated on the analytic aspect and exploited William James’s characterisation of attention as focussing on one object among others. The aim of this paper is to give a more balanced account of the history of philosophical work on attention as well as the activity theorised by highlighting the synthetic aspect of attention. The paper is centred on Hermann Lotze’s (1817-1881) work on attention. According to him, attention is constituted by comparing. I will motivate Lotze’s main thesis and expound his supporting argument in detail by locating it in his work on vision. The paper will draw on George Dawes Hicks engagement with Lotze and assess Francis H. Bradley’s criticism of Lotze’s main thesis.

AB - Nineteenth century treatments of attention often argued that analysis (attention singles out an object) and synthesis (attention unifies some objects) are inseparable aspects of this activity. Subsequent philosophical work on attention concentrated on the analytic aspect and exploited William James’s characterisation of attention as focussing on one object among others. The aim of this paper is to give a more balanced account of the history of philosophical work on attention as well as the activity theorised by highlighting the synthetic aspect of attention. The paper is centred on Hermann Lotze’s (1817-1881) work on attention. According to him, attention is constituted by comparing. I will motivate Lotze’s main thesis and expound his supporting argument in detail by locating it in his work on vision. The paper will draw on George Dawes Hicks engagement with Lotze and assess Francis H. Bradley’s criticism of Lotze’s main thesis.

KW - Attention, Comparing, Distinctness, Hermann Lotze, Francis H. Bradley, G. Dawes Hicks

M3 - Article

SN - 0966-8373

JO - EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY

JF - EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY

ER -