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In his solution to the problem of sensible knowledge, Leibniz seeks to avoid the extreme positions held by the Cartesians and Hobbes. The conceptual distinctions that Leibniz introduces allow him to overcome difficulties raised by his own earlier definitions of sensus. He is consequently able to reconcile the continuity he introduces between animal and human perceptions with the normative and, at the same time, propositional aspects of perceptual judgments. In this paper I will begin by describing his late conception of both human and animal perception, and I will compare this notion with his early notion of perception and the difficulties it gave rise to; finally, I will show the advantages that his new conception can offer for solving the epistemic problem of perception. La solution leibnizienne au problème de la connaissance sensible cherche à éviter les positions extrêmes que les cartésiens et Hobbes ont proposées. Les distinctions conceptuelles que Leibniz introduit lui permettent de surmonter des difficultés suscitées par ses premières définitions du sensus, et, en conséquence, de concilier les continuités entre les perceptions animale et humaine avec les conditions normatives et, pourtant, propositionnelles du jugement perceptuel. Dans cette étude, je commencerai par la description de cette conception tardive de la perception tant humaine qu’animale, et comparerai cette notion avec la première notion de la perception et les difficultés qu’elle suscite ; finalement, je présenterai les avantages que la nouvelle conception peut offrir pour le problème épistémique de la perception.

The European Landscape Convention emphasises the human perception of landscapes in its definition of the landscape, and promotes citizen participation in landscape management processes. On the other hand, landscape definitions adopted by the natural scientific tradition of landscape research, emphasises a material understanding of the landscape, with a more descriptive focus that includes landscape mapping. We discuss the inherent conflict between the ELC definition and propose that the ELC and natural scientific landscape definitions can be made complementary by considering landscape research as a two-phase process. The landscapes are typified, characterised and mapped in accordance with the natural science-based material landscape tradition in the first phase, and stakeholders of all kinds can be invited into an open process of landscape evaluation and development of management strategies and policies in a second phase of landscape analysis. We exemplify how the first phase in this two-phase process can be carried out, giving an overview of the system for landscape typification and characterisation developed for Nordland County, Norway as part of the Nature in Norway (NiN) system for typification and description of nature’s variation. The role of such a system in landscape research is briefly outlined and plans for further development of the system into a landscape classification system intended for mapping of landscapes in all of Norway, are presented.