Thermal perception and its relation to touch

Gray, Richard ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6923-6183 2024. Thermal perception and its relation to touch. Philosophers' Imprint 23 , 25. 10.3998/phimp.2547

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Abstract

Touch is standardly taken to be a proximal sense, principally constituted by capacities to detect proximal pressure and thermal stimulation across the body, and contrasted with the distal senses of vision and audition. It has, however, recently been argued that the scope of touch extends beyond proximal perception; touch can connect us to distal objects. Hence touch generally should be thought of as a connection sense. In this paper, I argue that whereas pressure perception is a connection sense, thermal perception is not. Thermal perception is a proximal sense distinct from touch. One significant consequence of this is that it motivates an alternative explanation of how we detect the thermal properties of the things we touch and what they are.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	English, Communication and Philosophy
Publisher:	Michigan Publishing
ISSN:	1533-628X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	15 July 2022
Date of Acceptance:	14 July 2022
Last Modified:	12 Feb 2024 15:20
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/151304

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