Abstract

Reflection was the only optical phenomenon known in ancient Greek science and its quantitative law was soon discovered. The phenomenon, as we understand it today, is related to some sort of motion. In the present paper, we discuss the compatibility of the explanations of the phenomenon of reflection with the Aristotelian theory of visual perception in which no movement is involved. First, we describe Aristotle’s theory of vision, then we will examine the role, if any, of reflection in the Aristotelian theory of vision, and, finally, we propose a way to explain how the phenomenon of reflection can be accommodated into the Aristotelian theory of visual perception.