An introductory inquiry into how perception and learning interact. This is a first class activity in learning to think philosophically, i.e. questioning the "obvious."

• Students are given a set of twelve "Magic Pictures" in color.
• Those who can discern objects in them are set to help those who are unable.
• After 15 minutes of activity, discussion is focussed on the following questions:

1. Could you see anything in the pictures?

2. How did you teach someone to see what was there?

3. How did you know when you had succeeded as a teacher?

4. Where is the perceived object?

5. What happened when you closed one eye while looking at the picture?

6. How can we characterize this experience?
Is it purely imaginative? An illusion?
Or are we perceiving something?  What is that something?

State your reasons for accepting or rejecting the experience as imagination,
illusion and/or perception.

7. To what extent do we contribute to our own perceptions?

8. For those who have studied the physiology of sight: What does the image on the retina correspond with? The "outer object" or the "perceived object"?