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The Tactual Ground, Immersion and "the space between"

Mac Cumhaill, Clare

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Abstract

I ask whether figure-ground structure can be realized in touch, and, if so, how. Drawing on the taxonomy of touch sketched in Katz's 1925 The World of Touch, I argue that the form of touch that is relevant to such consideration is a species of immersed touch. I consider whether we can feel the space we are immersed in and, more specifically, the empty space against which the surfaces of objects, as I shall urge, “stand out.” Harnessing M. G. F. Martin's account of bodily awareness and touch, I defend a positive thesis, pace Graham Nerlich on whose The Shape of Space (1994) I otherwise rely, both to defend the supposition that empty space can in principle be felt and to argue that touching empty space is not a mere species of absence perception. Along the way, I defuse a causal worry that might be thought to arise in the case of touching empty space.

Citation

Mac Cumhaill, C. (2017). The Tactual Ground, Immersion and "the space between". The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 55(1), 5-31. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjp.12212

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 22, 2017
Online Publication Date Apr 18, 2017
Publication Date Mar 1, 2017
Deposit Date Mar 22, 2017
Publicly Available Date Apr 18, 2019
Journal The Southern Journal of Philosophy
Print ISSN 0038-4283
Electronic ISSN 2041-6962
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 55
Issue 1
Pages 5-31
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/sjp.12212
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1390400

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Copyright Statement
This is the accepted version of the following article: Mac Cumhaill, C. (2017), The Tactual Ground, Immersion, and the “Space Between”. The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 55(1): 5-31, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/sjp.12212. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.






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