The Puzzle of Experience

If we reason in a certain way about our experience we are driven to the conclusion that what is present to us--the object of our experience--is something that exists only in so far as it is present hence it is not part of the world. If on the other hand we simply open up to our experience all we find is the world. This book sets out both to explain why we are entangled in this puzzle and to consider ways of solving it. In examining the puzzle and its possible solutions Valberg discusses relevant views of Hume Kant Heidegger Wittgenstein and Strawson as well as ideas from the recent philosophy of perception. Finally he describes and analyzes a manifestation of the puzzle outside philosophy in everyday experience.