Molyneux's Question: A Window on Crossmodal Interplay in Blindness

Abstract

In 1688, the Irish scientist William Molyneux sent a letter to the philosopher John Locke in which he asked whether a man who had been born blind and whose experience of the world was based on senses other than vision, would be able to distinguish and name a globe and a cube by sight alone, once he had been enabled to see. This issue immediately raised considerable interest amongst philosophers, who, for centuries, have continued to speculate about how this issue might be resolved. More recently, the possibility of corrective surgery for people born with congenital cataracts, has offered a valuable opportunity to explore this topic experimentally. A discussion of how Molyneux’s question has been addressed over the centuries, allows us to investigate a number of intellectual challenges, involving a variety of fields, ranging from philosophy, psychology and the cognitive sciences, to neuroscience. For instance, Molyenux’s question raises the question of whether sensory experience is specific to each sensory modality, or rather supramodal, and if a transfer of knowledge across modalities can be established. Molyneux’s question is also relevant to the discussion of whether, how and to what extent a concept of space can be developed by blind people. More generally, it concerns the idea of how conceptual knowledge is acquired and processed when vision is lacking. The present paper aims to provide an overview of all the issues raised by Molyenux’s question.

Keywords

• Molyneux
• Multisensory
• Blindness
• Nativism
• Empiricism