Molyneux's Problem in Action by Gabriele Ferretti

Molyneux's Problem in Action by Gabriele Ferretti

This book offers a novel action-based pluralist analysis of Molyneux’s question, which asks whether a subject born blind yet able to discriminate specific shapes by touch alone can immediately recognize, if their vision is suddenly restored, the same shapes placed before their eyes by sight alone. This text engages with the 300+ year long history of this question, the hard problems that prevent a final and unique answer, as well as some strong attempts to succeed in answering, and how failure to do so is due to partial interpretations of the question, which is more complex than usually considered. The authors suggest that only a pluralistic approach - one that tackles Molyneux’s problem from multiple disciplinary perspectives - will succeed. Thus, they defend a pluralist strategy, taking into account the role of embodiment and the many relations between perception and action, to face Molyneux's problem in all its complexity. The book will suggest a variety of answers, depending on how the question is approached.
 
This book taps into an interdisciplinary readership of students and scholars, particularly within the fields of philosophy, psychology and the cognitive sciences. It is especially appealing to those working on perception, action, and the body, three motifs punctuating the body of the book.