Molyneux’s question
the question posed by William Molyneux (1656–1698), a member of the Irish parliament, to John Locke, who later discussed it in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690). Molyneux’s question was whether a man born blind but able to distinguish two distinct shapes by feeling them with his hands would be able to distinguish them by sight alone, without also touching them, if he were suddenly able to see. Locke’s answer—and Molyneux’s as well—was that the person would not be able to distinguish them by sight immediately because the sense modalities act independently and can be integrated only by experience.