Molyneux’s Question and the History of Philosophy

Molyneux’s Question and the History of Philosophy PDF Author: Gabriele Ferretti
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429670451
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
In 1688 the Irish scientist and politician William Molyneux sent a letter to the philosopher John Locke. In it, he asked him a question: could someone who was born blind, and able to distinguish a globe and a cube by touch, be able to immediately distinguish and name these shapes by sight if given the ability to see? The philosophical puzzle offered in Molyneux’s letter fascinated not only Locke, but major thinkers such as Leibniz, Berkeley, Diderot, Reid, and numerous others including psychologists and cognitive scientists today. Does such a question represent a philosophical puzzle or a problem that can be solved by experimental tests? Can vision be fully restored after blindness? What is the relation between vision and touch? Are the senses linked through learning or bound at birth? Molyneux’s Question and the History of Philosophy is a major collection of essays that explore the long-standing issues Molyneux’s problem presents to philosophy of mind, perception and the senses. In addition, the volume considers the question from an interdisciplinary angle, examines the pre-history of the question, and aspects of it that have been ignored, such as perspectives from religion and disability. As such, Molyneux’s Question and the History of Philosophy presents a set of philosophically rich, empirically informed, and scientifically rigorous original investigations into this famous puzzle. It will be of great interest to students and researchers in philosophy, psychology, and the cognitive sciences including neuroscience, neurobiology and ophthalmology, as well as those studying the mind, perception and the senses.

Molyneux’s Question and the History of Philosophy

Molyneux’s Question and the History of Philosophy PDF Author: Gabriele Ferretti
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429670451
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 464

Get Book Here

Book Description
In 1688 the Irish scientist and politician William Molyneux sent a letter to the philosopher John Locke. In it, he asked him a question: could someone who was born blind, and able to distinguish a globe and a cube by touch, be able to immediately distinguish and name these shapes by sight if given the ability to see? The philosophical puzzle offered in Molyneux’s letter fascinated not only Locke, but major thinkers such as Leibniz, Berkeley, Diderot, Reid, and numerous others including psychologists and cognitive scientists today. Does such a question represent a philosophical puzzle or a problem that can be solved by experimental tests? Can vision be fully restored after blindness? What is the relation between vision and touch? Are the senses linked through learning or bound at birth? Molyneux’s Question and the History of Philosophy is a major collection of essays that explore the long-standing issues Molyneux’s problem presents to philosophy of mind, perception and the senses. In addition, the volume considers the question from an interdisciplinary angle, examines the pre-history of the question, and aspects of it that have been ignored, such as perspectives from religion and disability. As such, Molyneux’s Question and the History of Philosophy presents a set of philosophically rich, empirically informed, and scientifically rigorous original investigations into this famous puzzle. It will be of great interest to students and researchers in philosophy, psychology, and the cognitive sciences including neuroscience, neurobiology and ophthalmology, as well as those studying the mind, perception and the senses.

The Senses and the History of Philosophy

The Senses and the History of Philosophy PDF Author: Brian Glenney
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351731068
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 469

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Book Description
The study of perception and the role of the senses have recently risen to prominence in philosophy and are now a major area of study and research. However, the philosophical history of the senses remains a relatively neglected subject. Moving beyond the current philosophical canon, this outstanding collection offers a wide-ranging and diverse philosophical exploration of the senses, from the classical period to the present day. Written by a team of international contributors, it is divided into six parts: Perception from Non-Western Perspectives Perception in the Ancient Period Perception in the Medieval Latin/Arabic Period Perception in the Early Modern Period Perception in the Post-Kantian Period Perception in the Contemporary Period. The volume challenges conventional philosophical study of perception by covering a wide range of significant, as well as hitherto overlooked, topics, such as perceptual judgment, temporal and motion illusions, mirror and picture perception, animal senses and cross-modal integration. By investigating the history of the senses in thinkers such as Plotinus, Auriol, Berkeley and Cavendish; and considering the history of the senses in diverse philosophical traditions, including Chinese, Indian, Byzantine, Greek and Latin it brings a fresh approach to studying the history of philosophy itself. Including a thorough introduction as well as introductions to each section by the editors, The Senses and the History of Philosophy is essential reading for students and researchers in the history of philosophy, perception, philosophy of mind, philosophical psychology, aesthetics and eastern and non-western philosophy. It will also be extremely useful for those in related disciplines such as psychology, religion, sociology, intellectual history and cognitive sciences.

Seeing with the Hands

Seeing with the Hands PDF Author: Mark Paterson
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 1474405339
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
This book seeks to answer why there has there been a persistent fascination by the sighted, including philosophers, poets and the public, in what the blind see'.

A History of Irish Thought

A History of Irish Thought PDF Author: Thomas Duddy
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134623526
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
The first complete introduction to the subject ever published, A History of Irish Thought presents an inclusive survey of Irish thought and the history of Irish ideas against the backdrop of current political and social change in Ireland. Clearly written and engaging, the survey introduces an array of philosophers, polemicists, ideologists, satirists, scientists, poets and political and social reformers, from the anonymous seventh-century monk, the Irish Augustine, and John Scottus Eriugena, to the twentieth century and W.B. Yeats and Iris Murdoch. Thomas Duddy rediscovers the liveliest and most contested issues in the Irish past, and brings the history of Irish thought up to date. This volume will be of great value to anyone interested in Irish culture and its intellectual history.

The Case of Ireland's Being Bound by Acts of Parliament in England Stated

The Case of Ireland's Being Bound by Acts of Parliament in England Stated PDF Author: William Molyneux
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ireland
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description


The Cambridge History of Philosophy of the Scientific Revolution

The Cambridge History of Philosophy of the Scientific Revolution PDF Author: David Marshall Miller
Publisher:
ISBN: 1108420303
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 551

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Book Description
A collection of cutting-edge scholarship on the close interaction of philosophy with science at the birth of the modern age.

The Point is to Change It!

The Point is to Change It! PDF Author: John Molyneux
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781909026018
Category : Philosophy, Marxist
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Marx's ideas are once again vital, in a world wracked by economic crisis and the gap between rich and poor greater than ever. But his philosophy is often misrepresented and mystified, leaving the reader at best confused and at worst with the wrong idea of Marx's intentions. This small book, aimed primarily at the activist, explains Marx's ideas in as clear and simple language as possible, using contemporary examples to illustrate concepts and arguments.

Thought: A Philosophical History

Thought: A Philosophical History PDF Author: Panayiota Vassilopoulou
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429816863
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
Of all the topics in the history of philosophy, the history of different forms of thinking and contemplation is one of the most important, and yet is also relatively overlooked. What is it to think philosophically? How did different forms of thinking—reflection, contemplation, critique and analysis—emerge in different epochs? This collection offers a rich and diverse philosophical exploration of the history of contemplation, from the classical period to the twenty-first century. It covers canonical figures including Plato, Aristotle, Descartes and Kant, as well as debates in less well-known areas such as classical Indian and Islamic thought and the role of speculation in twentieth-century Russian philosophy. Comprising twenty-two chapters by an international team of contributors, the volume is divided into five parts: • Flourishing and Thinking from Homer to Hume • The Thinking of Thinking from Augustine to Gödel • Images and Thinking from Plotinus to Unger • Bodies of Thought and Habits of Thinking from Plato to Irigaray • The Efficacy of Thinking from Sextus to Bataille Thought: A Philosophical History is the first comprehensive investigation of the history of philosophical thought and contemplation. As such, it is a landmark publication for anyone researching and teaching the history of philosophy, and a valuable resource for those studying the subject in related fields such as literature, religion, sociology and the history of ideas.

A Pluralist’s Guide to Solving Molyneux’s Problem

A Pluralist’s Guide to Solving Molyneux’s Problem PDF Author: Brian Glenney
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040296211
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
This book presents a novel pluralist strategy for answering Molyneux’s 300+-year-old conundrum: Would a person, born blind but given sight, identify a shape previously known only by their touch? The author interweaves historical scholarship with contemporary philosophical work and empirical research on animal, infant, and adult human perception. The author argues that we need a new approach to Molyneux’s problem because we do not know what the problem is really about, and it is untestable because a Molyneux subject cannot be physically realized. He criticizes Molyneux’s question for its simplistic taxonomy of "the blind" that groups significant individual differences into a singular ontology. Research in the cognitive sciences confirms that various kinds of blindness can co-occur, such as ocular, cortical, and psychological blindness. Therefore, the author adopts an explanatory pluralism for answering Molyneux’s problem, which includes no, yes, and "no answer" answers according to the domain of inquiry being used. This account provides a research-based answer to a long-standing problem using previously unheeded insights particularly from animal crossmodal perception studies to retell a more complex story of perception: its levels of explanation and integration. A Pluralist’s Guide to Solving Molyneux’s Problem will be of interest to researchers and advanced students working in comparative psychology, epistemology, history of philosophy, philosophy of perception.

Molyneux’s Problem

Molyneux’s Problem PDF Author: Marjolein Degenaar
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0792339347
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
Suppose that a congenitally blind person has learned to distinguish and name a sphere and a cube by touch alone. Then imagine that this person suddenly recovers the faculty of sight. Will he be able to distinguish both objects by sight and to say which is the sphere and which the cube? This was the question which the Irish politician and scientist William Molyneux posed in 1688 to John Locke. Molyneux's question has intrigued a wide variety of intellectuals for three centuries. Those who have attempted to solve it include Berkeley, Reid, Leibniz, Voltaire, La Mettrie, Condillac, Diderot, Müller, Helmholtz, William James and Gareth Evans. This book is the first comprehensive survey of the history of the discussion about Molyneux's problem. It will be of interest to historians of both philosophy and psychology.