Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that, in light of plausible theories about time, some alleged instances of erroneous perceptual experience are not erroneous at all. It begins by outlining the philosophy of time. This is an important yet not commonly understood area of philosophy, assumptions about which can determine thinking about experience and error. The book introduces the philosophy of time, describing the various relevant positions and the relevant arguments for them. It outlines the different kinds of erroneous experience: illusion, hallucination, and the new kind introduced here, anosognosia. The book argues that the distinction between illusion and hallucination is not obvious. It looks at the kind of error in the perceptual experience of space. The book also looks at the conditions for a distorted perceptual experience of space given one's understanding of perceptual experience as extended in time.