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The Moon Illusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Frances Egan
Frances Egan*
Affiliation:
Rutgers University
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Abstract

Ever since Berkeley discussed the problem at length in his Essay Toward a New Theory of Vision, theorists of vision have attempted to explain why the moon appears larger on the horizon than it does at the zenith. Prevailing opinion has it that the contemporary perceptual psychologists Kaufman and Rock have finally explained the illusion. This paper argues that Kaufman and Rock have not refuted a Berkeleyan account of the illusion, and have over-interpreted their own experimental results. The moon illusion remains unexplained, and a Berkeleyan account is still a contender.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 65 , Issue 4 , December 1998, pp. 604 - 623
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1998

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Footnotes

†

Send request for reprints to the author, Department of Philosophy, Davison Hall, Douglass Campus, P.O. Box 270, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0270.

‡

Thanks to Margaret Atherton, Kent Bach, Martha Bolton, Robert Matthews, Jerry Orabona, Robert Schwartz, Arnold Trehub, and audiences at CUNY Graduate Center and McGill University for helpful discussion and comments on earlier drafts. Thanks also to three anonymous referees.

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