Molyneux’s problem raises an interesting question: would a person born blind, who learns to tell the difference between objects like cubes and spheres using touch, be able to identify those same objects just by looking at them if they suddenly gained sight?
This question explores how senses work together—or don’t—in building our understanding of the world.
Some philosophers, like John Locke, thought that a newly sighted person would not be able to connect what they feel with what they see until they gain some visual experience, because the brain doesn’t automatically link the shape information it gathers through touch to what it gets through sight.
Experiments with people who gained vision after being blind support this idea: right after surgery, they can’t reliably match objects by sight that they had previously known by touch, but they can learn to do so quickly with experience.
Philosophers and scientists continue to discuss whether there’s a natural connection between our senses, or if this connection is built through experience.
Recent studies have even tested this idea with animals like chickens, finding evidence that some ability to link touch and sight might exist right away in certain species.
Online Resources
- Molyneux’s problem / Wikipedia
- Molyneux’s problem / SEP
Please Note: This is my personal summary of the topic, shared both for my own records and in the hope it may be helpful to you. AI was used in parts to assist with the process.