In the Eye's Mind: Vision and the Helmholtz-Hering Controversy

R. S. Turner

Published by Princeton University Press 1994

In the Eye's Mind

Vision and the Helmholtz-Hering Controversy

R. S. Turner

Volume 227 in the series Princeton Legacy Library

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400863815

Overview
Contents

About this book

One of the most persistent controversies of modern science has dealt with human visual perception. It erupted in Germany during the 1860s as a dispute between physiologists Hermann von Helmholtz, Ewald Hering, and their schools. Well into the twentieth century these groups warred over the origins of our capacity to perceive space, over the retinal mechanisms that mediate color sensations, and over the role of mind, experience, and inference in vision. Here R. Steven Turner explores the impassioned exchanges of those rival schools, both to illuminate the clash of theory and to explore the larger role of controversy in the development of science. Controversy, he suggests, is constitutive of scientific change, and he uses the Helmholtz-Hering dispute to illustrate how polemics and tacit negotiation shape evolving theoretical stances.

Turner focuses on the arguments and issues of the dispute, issues that ranged from the interpretation of color blindness and optical illusions to the therapeutic practices of clinical ophthalmology. As well, he focuses on the personalities, institutions, disciplinary structures, and methodological commitments that shaped the dispute, including the schools' rhetorical strategies. He explores the incommensurability of the protagonists' viewpoints and examines the reception of the theories and the changing fortunes of the schools. Finally, Turner traces the controversy into the twentieth century, where the issues continue to inform the study of vision today.

Originally published in 1994.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Reviews

Turner has clearly done his homework and--unlike many people who write on the history of colour vision--has read the original texts. He understands the issues and the methods used in studying them, and does an excellent job of defining the jargon of the era, which is often comprehensible only in context.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
List of Figures and Tables Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Preface and Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiii
Part One. INTRODUCTION
Chapter One. Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
Chapter Two. Physiological Optics from Wheatstone to Helmholtz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	10
Part Two. THE PROTAGONISTS
Chapter Three. Helmholtz on Spatial Perception Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
Chapter Four. Hering on Spatial Perception Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
Chapter Five. The Nativist-Empiricist Controversy Begins Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
Chapter Six. Helmholtz on Light and Color Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
Chapter Seven. Hering on Light and Color Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
Part Three. THE WIDER CONTROVERSY
Chapter Eight. Core Sets and Partisans Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
Chapter Nine. The Nativist-Empiricist Debate, 1870-1925 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	156
Chapter Ten. Color Vision Controversies, 1875-90 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	176
Chapter Eleven. Color Vision Controversies, 1890-1915 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
Chapter Twelve. The Roots of Incommensurability Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	218
Chapter Thirteen. Controversy and Disciplinary Structure Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Part Four. CONCLUSION
Chapter Fourteen. In Search of Denouement: The Twentieth Century Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
Appendix Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
References and Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	299
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	329

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