Molyneux's question : vision, touch, and the philosophy of perception / Michael J. Morgan.

  • Morgan, Michael J.
Date:
1977
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Credit: Molyneux's question : vision, touch, and the philosophy of perception / Michael J. Morgan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    DIDEROT'S 'LETTER ON THE BLIND' of Russia. In a wonderfully tactful act of patronage, she pur¬ chased his library from him, and then appointed him its official custodian (with pay) for the rest of his life. Diderot spent seven months in Russia during the year 1773. His fame was sealed by election to the Society of Antiquarians of Scotland, and so on. He died on 31 July 1784 and was buried in the church of St Roch in Paris.® The force which had sustained this man in his unbelievable labours is best expressed by the opening words of the article 'Philosophe' in the Encylopédie: 'La raison est a l'égard du philosophe ce que la grâce est a l'égard du chrétien. La grâce détermine le chrétien a agir; la raison détermine le philosophe.' ('Reason to the philosopher is what grace is to the Christian: grace moves the Christian to act; reason is what moves the philosopher.') Section 2: 'The Letter on the Blind'^ A contemporary translation of the Letter exists in the British Library, and there is a nineteenth-century version in relief characters to be found in the Public Library in Boston. I have not had the opportunity to consult the latter. Rather than reproduce the eighteenth-century version, I have thought it better to attempt a new one, not hesitating to use modern psychological vocabulary where it seems to be appropriate. The section describing Saunderson's calculating engine has been largely omitted, as it would severely tax the patience of the reader. Likewise the whole section describing Saunderson's death, which is not relevant to the main concern of blindness. I suspect, Madame, that the congenitally blind person from whom M. de Réaumur has just removed a cataract would not satisfy your curiosity; but that, I think, would be neither his fault nor yours. I solicited his benefactor not only personally, but through friends: despite which, nothing was achieved, and you will not be there when the first dressing is taken off. Persons of the highest eminence have been refused along with the philosophes ; in a word, the surgeon wished to lift the veil only in front of certain inconsequential onlookers. If you are curious to know ® Where the hopeful visitor will be wasting his time looking for a memorial. A suggestion to move the body to the Pantheon on the second centenary was rejected by the Senate (Rolland, Maurois and Herriot (eds.) 249]. '' Diderot, Oeuvres philosophiques, ed. P. Vernière (Paris: Garnier, 1964]. 31