Presentation
Making Sense of the Molyneux Problem
The Third Finnish-Hungarian Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy
(2015)
Abstract
Molyneux’s question asks whether someone born blind, and suddenly made to see, would recognize objects at first
sight that he or she had previously only touched. John Locke answered, ‘no.’ I offer a novel interpretation of
Locke’s answer, as part of his broader theory of perception, all of which has significance for his philosophy of mind
and theory of knowledge. Further, by applying recent empirical research in psychology and neuroscience to Locke’s
analysis of Molyneux’s question, I aim to improve our understanding of how experiences from different senses,
such as vision and touch, relate to one another.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2015
Location
Budapest, Hungary
Citation Information
Vaughn, A. (2015). Making Sense of the Molyneux Problem. Presentation, Budapest, Hungary.