The Perceptual System
(Peter Lang: 1993)

Book Description
This book presents an original comprehensive approach to some of the most difficult problems concerning sense-perception and other mental states. After rejecting prevailing approaches, the author presents his own viewpoint which may be characterized as direct, critical realism. Basing his conclusions on conceptual analysis, psychological evidence and historical considerations, the author is able to offer new insights into traditionally unsolved problems concerning the nature of perceptual states, the ontological status of perceptual environment, the cognitive mechanism in perception and the explanation of perceptual mistakes. The book also discusses the implications of this approach for other mental states such as memory and consciousness.

Reviews
"At last a philosopher has built a theory of perception based on a thorough knowledge of the empirical work in experimental psychology."
Gaetnio Kanitzsa University of Trieste, Italy

"This book will be of interest to anyone concerned with the philosophy or psychology of perception. Ben-Ze'ev deftly combines psychological and philosophical materials in a way that clearly illustrates their interrelations and demonstrates the need for philosophers and psychologists to take one another seriously"
John Heil Davidson College

"Professor Ben-Ze'ev's book is an interesting and original exploration of central issues in the philosophy of perception. It combines a wide historical knowledge with frequent references to relevant discussion in the contem¬porary literature, both philosophical and psychological. It also provides a convincing alternative to the accounts of perception which the author finds implicit in some traditional ways of thinking about the mind."
A. E. Pitson University of Sterling

Ben-Ze'ev presents a highly original, very detailed, comprehensive, and plausible theory of perception, cognition, and other mental phenomena. At last we have a viable alternative to the troubled dualistic, representational, "veil of perceptions" (sense-data, ideas) theories initiated in the seventeenth century and to the equally troubled materialistic, reductionist theories… Ben-Ze'ev has made a brilliant synthesis of some of the most fruitful ideas of Aristotle, Kant, and others, and he shows that many recent findings in the psychological experiments confirm, or are more compatible with, his theory than the alternatives…. Ben-Ze'ev has a version of the dual-aspect or multi-aspect theory of mind and body which strikes me as the only remotely plausible approach… Here, finally we have a theory of perception and the mind which any scientifically-minded, critical philosopher can live with.
Jack H. Ornstein, Concordia University,The Review of Metaphysics