Introduction
William Molyneux (1654-1698) was a seventeenth-century Irish scientist, philosopher, politician and writer. In his time, he was a significant figure in the intellectual society, and he promoted and defended the ideals of science. Even though he lived almost three centuries ago, his legacy still gets much attention from philosophers and historians, researchers of different fields today deal with the questions Molyneux raised in his works.
Main body
William Molyneux was born in Dublin into an influential and wealthy family, and that had a high position in the society of seventeenth-century Dublin (Duddy 2012). His father Samuel Molyneux was a lawyer and a landowner of English ancestry; he was also a skilled mathematician, and it might have been one of the reasons why young William Molyneux took courses in mathematical and various scientific topics while studying at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1683, he became the founder and the first Secretary of the Dublin Philosophical Society. This organization was created to be not only the place of gathering for the most prominent Irish thinkers of that time but also an important place for scientists, who conducted experiments and demonstrated their inventions there (Hoppen 1963).
Many researchers consider optics as Molyneux’s primary field of interest. His best known and, at the time, the most significant work was Dioptrica Nova, written in 1692. Problems of optics were often in the center of his attention. However, he was no less interested in the question of the natural history of Ireland, astronomy, natural philosophy and other miscellaneous scientific problems (Westfall n.d.). He left a significant contribution in various fields of knowledge.
Molyneux also took a great interest in political life. He published The Case of Ireland’s being Bound by Acts of Parliament in England, Stated (1698), a very controversial work about the necessity of equal rights for English and Irish Parliaments and the support for Irish Protestants (O’Hara 2004). The philosopher believed that ‘Anglo-Irish conflict could be resolved by rational argument’ (Olhmeyer 2000, p. 89).
His support of ideals of science and natural philosophy led to his friendship with prominent philosophers of his time. As a scientist himself, Molyneux believed that experience and experiment are most important for knowledge. He shared his philosophical views with such a prominent figure as John Locke. In one of the letters to Locke, he formulated the so-called Molyneux’s problem. According to Marjolein & Lokhorst (2014), the question is, ‘whether a man who has been born blind and who has learnt to distinguish and name a globe and a cube by touch, would be able to distinguish and name these objects simply by sight, once he had been enabled to see’. Molyneux’s interest in the subject of optics has also had some personal background because his wife had lost her sight. It led him to learn more about the psychology of sight, so he started thinking about how different human senses might be connected.
There are different opinions on Molyneux’s question. Some believe that one cannot imagine visual images through tactual sense. On the contrary, others were of the view that there is a connection between them. With modern technology, a lot of experiments concerning this question were conducted, and most of them suggest that the answer to Molyneux’s question is ‘no’, it is not possible to find a connection between senses (Marjolein & Lokhorst 2014).
Conclusion
William Molyneux was a scientist and philosopher, who was thinking ahead of his time. His achievements were not limited to only one area of knowledge. His political views at the time were controversial, but he bravely tried to do what he thought was best for society. Moreover, his contribution to philosophy has had a significant influence for already three hundred years.
References
Duddy, T 2012, A History of Irish Thought, Routledge, London.
Hoppen, K 1963, ‘The Royal Society and Ireland William Molyneux, F.R.S. (1656-1698)’, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 125-135.
Marjolein, D & Lokhorst G.-J 2014, ‘Molyneux’s Problem’, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Web.
O’Hara, J 2004, ‘Molyneux, William (1656–1698)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Web.
Ohlmeyer, J 2000, Political Thought in Seventeenth-Century Ireland: Kingdom Or Colony, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Westfall, R, n.d., ‘Molyneux, William’, The Galileo Project, 2015. Web.