Is perception a capacity for knowledge? A discussion on McDowell’s account of perceptual knowledge

Abstract

In this paper I discuss McDowell’s account of perception in his Marquette Lectures “Perception as a Capacity for Knowledge”. In these Lectures McDowell criticizes Burge’s account of perception and argues for a thesis according to which perception represents a justificative warrant for the beliefs of a rational subject with respect to states of affairs in the world. I problematize McDowell’s argumentation and argue that perception cannot be assumed as an indefeaseble warrant for rational beliefs.