OU blog

Personal Blogs

Richard Walker

Golden Mean

Visible to anyone in the world

I believe in moderation. But only to a degree.

Permalink Add your comment
Share post
Richard Walker

Aristotle's Nose

Visible to anyone in the world
Edited by Richard Walker, Wednesday, 9 June 2021, 00:19

When we were very young we were shown the ‘two noses’ illusion by my Dad.

If you cross your fingers and touch a small object (such as the tip of your nose), there will seem to be two of whatever it is. Not being able to see the object strengthens the illusion, and because you can’t see the end of your nose very well it is a suitable tactile target. Besides, using your nose is amusing.

This illusion has been known for at least two thousand years. Aristotle wrote (Metaphysics Book 4):

“… touch says there are two objects when we cross our fingers, while sight says there is one”

It’s an example of a tactile illusion. There are a lot of optical illusions known but illusions of touch are less common.


Permalink 1 comment (latest comment by Richard Walker, Thursday, 10 June 2021, 16:24)
Share post
Richard Walker

Sillygism

Visible to anyone in the world
Edited by Richard Walker, Friday, 29 Jan 2021, 01:47

My vacuum cleaner should suck.

It doesn’t suck.

Therefore, it sucks.

Permalink Add your comment
Share post

This blog might contain posts that are only visible to logged-in users, or where only logged-in users can comment. If you have an account on the system, please log in for full access.

Total visits to this blog: 2364577