Lawrence Shapiro (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA), Ruminations on Rubber Hands

Lawrence Shapiro is Berent Enç Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA)

Abstract:

The rubber hand illusion was designed to provide insights into the phenomenological experience of body-ownership. But it also offers an opportunity to reflect more generally on topics of philosophical and psychological interest, such as the justification for top-down processing models, conceptions of representation, and cognitive penetration. I will argue that conclusions psychologists have drawn about these issues do not follow from the data they cite and that the rubber hand illusion may in fact be two distinct illusions.