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Seeing with the Hands : Blindness, Vision and Touch After Descartes / Mark Paterson.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2022]Copyright date: ©2016Description: 1 online resource (224 p.) : 9 B/W illustrationsContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9781474405317
  • 9781474405331
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 362.4/1/01
LOC classification:
  • HV1581 .P38 2016
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Summary: A literary, historical and philosophical discussion of attitudes to blindness by the sighted, and what the blind 'see'GBS_insertPreviewButtonPopup(['ISBN:9781474405317','ISBN:9781474405348','ISBN:9781474405331','ISBN:9781474405324']);The "man born blind restored to light" was one of two foundational myths of the Enlightenment, according to Foucault. With ophthalmic surgery in its infancy, the fascination with blindness and what the blind 'see' once their vision is restored remained largely hypothetical. Was being blind, as Descartes once remarked, like 'seeing with the hands'? Did evidence from early ophthalmic surgery resolve debates about the relationship between vision and touch in the newly sighted? Has the standard representation of blind figures in literature been modified by recent autobiographical accounts of blind and vision impaired writers and poets? As this book shows, much interest in the philosophy and psychology of blindness was prompted by the so-called 'Molyneux Question' which Irish scientist Molyneux asked of English philosopher Locke in 1688. The question concerns 'sensory substitution', the translation between vision and touch, which would effect practical outcomes for the blind, including the development of Braille, the first school for the blind in Paris, and even present day Tactile-Visual Sensory Substitution (TVSS) technologies. Through an unfolding historical, philosophical, and literary narrative that encompasses Locke, Molyneux, and Berkeley in Britain, and Diderot, Voltaire, and Buffon in France, this book explores how the Molyneux Question and its aftermath has influenced attitudes towards blindness by the sighted, and technologies for the blind and vision impaired, to this day.Key FeaturesUnfolds the history of 'blindness' from 17th century that shades into the beginnings of psychologyQuestions the assumed centrality of vision and the eye in Enlightenment philosophy and scienceTraces the core idea of 'sensory substitution' from hypothetical speculations in the 17th century to present day technologies for the blind and vision impaired"
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781474405331

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

A literary, historical and philosophical discussion of attitudes to blindness by the sighted, and what the blind 'see'GBS_insertPreviewButtonPopup(['ISBN:9781474405317','ISBN:9781474405348','ISBN:9781474405331','ISBN:9781474405324']);The "man born blind restored to light" was one of two foundational myths of the Enlightenment, according to Foucault. With ophthalmic surgery in its infancy, the fascination with blindness and what the blind 'see' once their vision is restored remained largely hypothetical. Was being blind, as Descartes once remarked, like 'seeing with the hands'? Did evidence from early ophthalmic surgery resolve debates about the relationship between vision and touch in the newly sighted? Has the standard representation of blind figures in literature been modified by recent autobiographical accounts of blind and vision impaired writers and poets? As this book shows, much interest in the philosophy and psychology of blindness was prompted by the so-called 'Molyneux Question' which Irish scientist Molyneux asked of English philosopher Locke in 1688. The question concerns 'sensory substitution', the translation between vision and touch, which would effect practical outcomes for the blind, including the development of Braille, the first school for the blind in Paris, and even present day Tactile-Visual Sensory Substitution (TVSS) technologies. Through an unfolding historical, philosophical, and literary narrative that encompasses Locke, Molyneux, and Berkeley in Britain, and Diderot, Voltaire, and Buffon in France, this book explores how the Molyneux Question and its aftermath has influenced attitudes towards blindness by the sighted, and technologies for the blind and vision impaired, to this day.Key FeaturesUnfolds the history of 'blindness' from 17th century that shades into the beginnings of psychologyQuestions the assumed centrality of vision and the eye in Enlightenment philosophy and scienceTraces the core idea of 'sensory substitution' from hypothetical speculations in the 17th century to present day technologies for the blind and vision impaired"

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Mai 2022)