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How to test Molyneux's question empirically

In a recent i-Perception article, Schwenkler (2012) criticizes a 2011 experiment by R. Held and colleagues purporting to answer Molyneux's question. Schwenkler proposes two ways to re-run the original experiment, either by allowing subjects to move around the stimuli, or by simplifying the stim...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Connolly, Kevin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Pion 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4129384/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25165508
http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/i0623jc
Descripción
Sumario:In a recent i-Perception article, Schwenkler (2012) criticizes a 2011 experiment by R. Held and colleagues purporting to answer Molyneux's question. Schwenkler proposes two ways to re-run the original experiment, either by allowing subjects to move around the stimuli, or by simplifying the stimuli to planar objects rather than three-dimensional ones. In Schwenkler (2013), he expands on and defends the former. I argue that this way of re-running the experiment is flawed, since it relies on a questionable assumption that newly sighted subjects will be able to appreciate depth cues. I then argue that the second way of re-running the experiment is successful both in avoiding the flaw of original Held experiment, and in avoiding the problem with the first way of re-running the experiment.