Molyneux's problem

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

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