William Molyneux
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William Molyneux FRS was an Anglo-Irish writer on science, politics and natural philosophy.
Molyneux's tombstone in St. Audoen's, Dublin. It mentions his works The Case of Ireland and Dioptrica nova, his friendship with John Locke, and his son Samuel.
Plaque to Molyneux, at the site of the first DPS on Crow Street, Dublin
Sciothericum telescopicum, or A new contrivance of adapting a telescope to a horizontal dial for observing the moment of time by day or night, 1686
Molyneux's problem
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Molyneux's problem is a thought experiment in philosophy concerning immediate recovery from blindness. It was first formulated by William Molyneux, and notably referred to in John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689). The problem can be stated in brief, "if a man born blind can feel the differences between shapes such as spheres and cubes, could he, if given the ability to see, distinguish those objects by sight alone, in reference to the tactile schemata he already possessed?"
Different shaped stress balls, including a cube, a star, and a sphere