Difference between revisions
molyneux-problem
Status and infobox
- status:
—→ partial - kind:
—→ problem - year:
—→ 1688 - statement:
—→ Could a person born blind, who learns shapes by touch, recognize them by sight alone on gaining vision?
Source +18 −0
+---
+title: Molyneux's problem
+kind: problem
+status: partial
+year: 1688
+authors: William Molyneux, in a letter to John Locke
+statement: Could a person born blind, who learns shapes by touch, recognize them by sight alone on gaining vision?
+space: knowledge
+---
+For three centuries it was a thought experiment about innate ideas. Cataract surgery in India under Project Prakash let it be tested: patients could not immediately match seen shapes to touched ones, but learned within days. A philosophical question became an experiment, though what the result means is still argued.
+
+Posed 1688, William Molyneux, in a letter to John Locke. Closed 2011, Held and colleagues test newly sighted patients.
+
+## Sources
+
+- [Wikipedia: Molyneux's problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molyneux%27s_problem)
+
+[[Space:knowledge|Knowledge]] · [[Continent:philosophy|Philosophy]]
Revision 224 as rendered
For three centuries it was a thought experiment about innate ideas. Cataract surgery in India under Project Prakash let it be tested: patients could not immediately match seen shapes to touched ones, but learned within days. A philosophical question became an experiment, though what the result means is still argued.
Posed 1688, William Molyneux, in a letter to John Locke. Closed 2011, Held and colleagues test newly sighted patients.