Abstract

SummaryThis paper contains a detailed investigation of the way ordinary persons talk about surfaces. Among the results achieved are: 1) No theory of perception can be correct which holds that it is a necessary condition for seeing an object that we must also see its surface; 2) Not all cases of visual perception can be analyzed in terms of seeing part of some surface as a necessary condition for seeing the object which has that surface; 3) Not every physical object has a surface, and 4) surfaces are sometimes identified with a particular medium, such as macadam, and sometimes are considered as a kind of logical entity — not visible, without depth, having no mass, a “mere outer aspect.”