Seeing & Knowing

Shashwat Mishra explores the limits of perception via the Molyneux problem.

- Shashwat Mishra

The Molyneux problem is a philosophical thought experiment that has been the subject of debate for centuries. It poses this question: If a person who has been blind from birth were to suddenly gain the ability to see, would they recognize objects they had previously only known through touch? The problem was first posed by William Molyneux (1656-98) - whose wife was blind - to the philosopher John Locke (1632-1704). Here we will explore some of the ways in which it has been approached by philosophers over the years.

Our brains use the information we gather through senses to create an experience or 'mental picture' of the world, allowing us to navigate our surroundings. The Molyneux problem arises from the fact that different senses provide us with different types of information about the world, and it is not always clear how these different types of information are combined to create a coherent picture. If a person who had learned the difference between a sphere and a cube by touch alone, for example, were to gain her sight, would she instantly recognize by sight which was the ball and which the cube? Or in more general terms we might ask, can visual and tactile information be combined in such a way as to create a single, unified perception of objects? This problem has important implications for our understanding of perception and of the nature of knowledge. It challenges our assumptions about how we come to know the world, and forces us to consider the complex interplay between different senses and the brain.

Approaches to the Molyneux Problem

Over the years, philosophers have approached the Molyneux problem in a variety of ways. Some have argued that the problem is insoluble, while others have proposed solutions. Here are a few of the most prominent:

The Argument from Empirical Observation