Perceptual Artifacts and Phenomena: Gibson's Role in the 20th Century

Abstract One of the most influential frameworks for the study of perception has been James J. Gibson's ecological approach. This approach is not a theory, but a metatheory, of how we perceive and understand the world around us through our senses. As a metatheory it dissolves old problems and creates new ones, fostering new ways to think about perception and creating new antinomies to ponder. This essay outlines the successes of the approach, some of its new problems, and traces some of its more and less fruitful leads.

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