The Natural and the Normative ― Theories of Spatial Perception from Kant to Helmholtz

Gary Hatfield examines theories of spatial perception from the seventeenth to thenineteenth century and provides a detailed analysis of the works of Kant and Helmholtz, who adoptedopposing stances on whether central questions about spatial perception were amenable tonatural-scientific treatment. At stake were the proper understanding of the relationships amongsensation, perception, and experience, and the proper methodological framework for investigating themental activities of judgment, understanding, and reason issues which remain at the core ofphilosophical psychology and cognitive science.

Hatfield presents these importantissues as living philosophies of science that shape and are shaped by actual research programs,creating a complex and fascinating picture of the entire nineteenth-century battle between nativismand empiricism. His examination of Helmholtz's work in physiological optics and epistemology is atour de force.