Galileo's Visions
Subtitle: Piercing the Spheres of the Heavens by Eye and Mind
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2013
Language: eng
Number of pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9780199554355
Subjects: Visual perception; Eye, movements; Galilei, galileo, 1564-1642
Description: "In a fascinating and accessible style, Marco Piccolino and Nick Wade analyse the scientific and philosophical work of Galileo Galilei from the particular viewpoint of his approach to the senses (and especially vision) as a means of acquiring trustworthy knowledge about the constitution of the world. For Galileo evidence from the senses was potentially ambiguous, hence reliable information capable of penetrating the complexity of reality could only be obtained by interpreting the sensory data critically. The philosophical background of Galileo's attitude to the senses was his awareness that nature had not developed a specific language aimed at communicating with senses generally and human senses in particular. Galileo's analysis of the senses corresponded closely to a fundamental tenet of modern sensory physiology and psychophysics - the absence in the world of specific sensory signals like sounds, colours, tastes, and odours." -- Publisher's description.