ABSTRACT
The world of perception, or in other words the worldwhich is revealed to us by our senses and in everyday life, seems at first sight to be the one we know best of all. For we
need neither to measure nor to calculate in order to gain access
to this world and it would seem that we can fathom it simply
by opening our eyes and getting on with our lives. Yet this is
a delusion. In these lectures, I hope to show that the world of
perception is, to a great extent, unknown territory as long as
we remain in the practical or utilitarian attitude. I shall suggest
that much time and effort, as well as culture, have been needed
in order to lay this world bare and that one of the great
achievements of modern art and philosophy (that is, the art
and philosophy of the last fifty to seventy years) has been to
allow us to rediscover the world in which we live, yet which we
are always prone to forget.
