How can we make sense of the fact that people appear smaller when seen from far away and yet do not appear to become smaller? How is it possible that a tilted penny looks elliptical and also looks round? Based on Thomas Reid’s theory of vision this book explains that our visual experience acquaints us with two sorts of shape properties: real figures and visible figures. Both are mind-independent and external; the latter, however, exist relative to a viewpoint in space. Moreover, visible figures have non-Euclidean geometrical properties. The book also applies this Reidean approach to the case of colour perception, hearing and temporal experience.
