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1. My design is to shew the manner wherein we perceive
by sight the distance, magnitude, and situation of objects. Also to consider
the difference there is betwixt the ideas of sight and touch, and whether
there be any idea common to both senses.
2. It is, I think, agreed by all that distance, of itself and immediately,
cannot be seen. For distance being a Line directed end-wise to the eye,
it projects only one point in the fund of the eye, which point remains
invariably the same, whether the distance be longer or shorter.
3. I find it also acknowledged that the estimate we make of the distance
of objects considerably remote is rather an act of judgment grounded
on experience than of sense. For example, when I perceive a great number
of intermediate objects, such as houses, fields, rivers, and the like,
which I have experienced to take up a considerable space, I thence form
a judgment or conclusion that the object I see beyond them is at a great
distance. Again, when an object appears faint and small, which at a near
distance I have experienced to make a vigorous and large appearance,
I instantly conclude it to be far off: And this, 'tis evident, is the
result of experience; without which, from the faintness and littleness
I should not have inferred anything concerning the distance of objects.
George Berkeley, An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision |
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General Philosophy
Resources
Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Philosophical
Dictionary
Peter
Suber's Guide to Philosophy on the Internet
The
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
History Resources
Classics in the History
of Psychology
(A great
resource that has a large number primary sources.)
The MacTutor History of Mathematics of Archive
(A useful
resource for mathematical topics) |