Understanding the Senses: Past and Present

Published: 1 May 2015

An interdisciplinary investigation into the subjective experiences of sight and touch.

Professors Fiona Macpherson (Philosophy) and Elizabeth Robertson (English Language) of the University of Glasgow in collaboration with Professor Annette Kern-Staehler (Literature) of the University of Bern are running a project on the senses. It will bring experts in the history of the senses in the medieval and Early Modern periods in the fields of linguistics, philosophy, literature and art history into conversation with scholars of contemporary philosophy and disabilities studies and with an award-winning Scottish poet to probe how discourses of the past about the nature, function and affect of the senses from a variety of disciplinary perspectives can inform discourses of the present and vice versa. The ultimate goal is to reach a deeper understanding of the mechanisms, affective dimensions, and subjective experiences of the senses of sight and touch in and of themselves, and in interaction with each other, both in the past and in the present.

For further information please see the Understanding the Senses project page.


First published: 1 May 2015