The National Endowment for the Humanities granted philosophy professor Roy Sorensen a prestigious 12-month, $40,000 fellowship that will allow him to work on his new book, tentatively titled "Seeing Dark Things."
Sorensen was one of 195 scholars in the United States who received fellowships from the endowment, which are given out annually and announced last week. The money allotted to this year's fellows totals $7.4 million.
Sorensen's book will defend the causal theory of perception, a philosophical premise that states that the perception of an object is the cause of what is perceived.
Although there are several points in the theory that involve the scientific and anatomical aspects of perception, the project will focus on the philosophical points, Sorensen said.
The theory also has implications in the perception of holes, according to Sorensen.
"You see the hole in the donut, but the hole is where there isn't any donut. The hole is something that's immaterial, and yet you still seem to see that. How do you manage to square that up with the causal theory of perception?" he said.
In his application to the NEH, Sorensen wrote that his project would resolve these types of anomalies in the theory, as well as questions regarding the perception of dark objects and things that have no physical mass, such as rainbows and shadows.
"The projected book is conservative in that it defends a classic theory of perception that has long drawn support from common sense and science. My method of defense is not conservative," Sorensen wrote. "I contend that common sense and science fumble the execution of the theory."
Sorensen has completed work on these subjects before, and was particularly interested in the "hanging chad" debate of the 2000 presidential election.
"I was hoping to be called in as an expert witness. I thought I was in a better position to judge that than the Supreme Court, [because] you have to figure out what a hole is," he said.
When the fellowship commences, Sorensen will be dedicating the majority of his time to "Seeing Dark Things," putting other projects on hold to complete the book. Fellows are not permitted to hold other grants or fellowships for the same project in conjunction with an NEH fellowship.
Sorensen is not teaching classes at Dartmouth this term, and will teach only two classes between now and Spring term 2006, according to the philosophy department's website.
