Catching Berkeley's Shadow

Tom Stoneham

doi:10.1111/j.2041-6962.2011.00049.x

Catching Berkeley's Shadow

Tom Stoneham

Philosophy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Berkeley thinks that we only see the size, shape, location, and orientation of objects in virtue of the correlation between sight and touch. Shadows have all of these spatial properties and yet are intangible. In Seeing Dark Things (2008), Roy Sorensen argues that shadows provide a counterexample to Berkeley's theory of vision and, consequently, to his idealism. This paper shows that Berkeley can accept both that shadows are intangible and that they have spatial properties.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	116-36
Number of pages	21
Journal	Southern Journal of Philosophy
Volume	49
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-6962.2011.00049.x
Publication status	Published - Jun 2011

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10.1111/j.2041-6962.2011.00049.x

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2041-6962.2011.00049.x/abstract

Cite this

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title = "Catching Berkeley's Shadow",

abstract = "Berkeley thinks that we only see the size, shape, location, and orientation of objects in virtue of the correlation between sight and touch. Shadows have all of these spatial properties and yet are intangible. In Seeing Dark Things (2008), Roy Sorensen argues that shadows provide a counterexample to Berkeley's theory of vision and, consequently, to his idealism. This paper shows that Berkeley can accept both that shadows are intangible and that they have spatial properties.",

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