AMBIGUOUS ILLUSIONS
This plush is, of course, based on the rabbit-duck illusion, possibly the most famous ambiguous figure ever created. The rabbit-duck, along with other famous illusions like the Necker cube and the young woman/old woman image called the Boring figure (named after the psychologist who wrote a famous paper about it, not how exciting it is) are known as “ambiguous figures.” And what makes them special, of course, is that sometimes they look one way, and sometimes another; in this case you either see a rabbit or a duck.
THE IMAGE
The rabbit-duck image is considered the most famous image in philosophy (admittedly a field not known for illustrations). That’s because it was used in an important context by Ludwig Wittgenstein, himself often regarded as the most important philosopher of the twentieth century. Wittgenstein wrote about it in his book Philosophical Investigations, as an example to help people understand his concept of “aspect perception.” He was talking about how our life experiences and context affect what we perceive, and how our brains make sense of it.
THE IMAGE
The rabbit-duck image is considered the most famous image in philosophy (admittedly a field not known for illustrations). That’s because it was used in an important context by Ludwig Wittgenstein, himself often regarded as the most important philosopher of the twentieth century. Wittgenstein wrote about it in his book Philosophical Investigations, as an example to help people understand his concept of “aspect perception.” He was talking about how our life experiences and context affect what we perceive, and how our brains make sense of it.