The Tactual Ground, Immersion and "the space between"

Mac Cumhaill, Clare

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