Rabbit–duck illusion

"Kaninchen und Ente" ("Rabbit and Duck") from the 23 October 1892 issue of Fliegende Blätter

The rabbit–duck illusion is an ambiguous image in which a rabbit or a duck can be seen.[1]

The earliest known version is an unattributed drawing from the 23 October 1892 issue of Fliegende Blätter, a German humour magazine. It was captioned "Welche Thiere gleichen einander am meisten?" ("Which animals are most like each other?"), with "Kaninchen und Ente" ("Rabbit and Duck") written underneath.[2]

The image was made famous by Ludwig Wittgenstein, who included it in his Philosophical Investigations as a means of describing two different ways of seeing: seeing that/seeing as.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal wrote children's book, Duck! Rabbit! based on this optical illusion.

References

  1. ↑ Weisstein, Eric W., "Rabbit–duck illusion", MathWorld.
  2. ↑ McManus, I. C.; Freegard, Matthew; Moore, James; Rawles, Richard (2010). "Science in the Making: Right Hand, Left Hand. II: The duck–rabbit figure". Laterality 15: 167. doi:10.1080/13576500802564266. Retrieved 18 February 2012.

External links

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