Debate about the nature of perceptual knowledge and the objects of perception runs through the history of philosophy, making perception one of the central topics in the philosophical tradition. Barry Maund's account of the major issues in the philosophy of perception highlights the importance of a good theory of perception in a range of philosophical fields - including epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of mind - while also respecting the historical dimension of the subject.

The book includes chapters on forms of natural realism, theories of perceptual experience, representationalism, the argument from illusion, phenomenological senses, types of perceptual content, the representationalist/intentionalist thesis, and adverbialist accounts of perceptual experience. The ideas of Austin, Dretske, Heidegger, Millikan, Putnam, and Robinson are considered among others and the reader is given an invaluable philosophical framework within which to consider the issues.