The Seba library treats Retina in 7 passages, across 6 authors (including Ferenczi, Sándor, Freud, Sigmund, Simondon, Gilbert).
the photochemistry of the retina imitates pictorially the external world (or the external world takes possession of the specifically traumato-philic substance of the retina).
Ferenczi proposes that the retina, as a ‘traumatophilic substance,’ is the locus where external reality forcibly impresses itself onto the organism, making photochemical registration the primal act of becoming conscious.
, The Clinical Diary of Sándor Ferenczi, 1932thesis
an arrangement of the luminous points in the retina in parallel lines corresponded to a dream in which he had been seeing, clearly spread out in front of him, some lines of print which he was engaged in reading.
Freud cites Ladd’s observation that retinal light patterns bear a traceable structural correspondence to hypnagogic and dream images, raising the question of whether peripheral retinal excitation provides a template for unconscious visual elaboration.
, The Interpretation of Dreams, 1900thesis
depth to be effectively perceived, it merely requires the image formed on the retina of the left eye to be different from the image formed on the retina of the right eye.
Simondon uses binocular retinal disparity as the paradigm case for his theory of individuation through information: perceived depth and meaning emerge from the non-superposable difference between two retinal inputs, not from either input alone.
, Individuation in Light of Notions of Form and Information, 2020thesis
the apparent size of a retreating object does not vary proportionately to the retinal image, and that the apparent shape of a disc turning round one of its diameters does not vary as one would expect according to the geomet
Merleau-Ponty marshals Gestalt evidence that perceptual appearance systematically diverges from retinal projection, arguing that apparent size is an expression of a field-organised perception of depth rather than a function of retinal image size.
, Phenomenology of Perception, 1962thesis
The men I see from a window are hidden by their hats and coats, and their image cannot be imprinted on my retina. I therefore do not see them, I judge them to be there.
Merleau-Ponty, ventriloquising the empiricist position, exposes its absurdity: if perception were solely retinal imprinting, we could not claim to perceive what produces no retinal image, yet we manifestly do perceive such things through judgement and perceptual structure.
, Phenomenology of Perception, 1962supporting
Retina Pulvinar f Colliculus Portex (location and movement of stimuli; control of action) Visual WorldV2 VENTRAL STREAM Lateral — Vi a What Geniculate Temporal (shape and color of stimuli)
LeDoux locates the retina as the originating node of the visual pathway in a diagram distinguishing dorsal and ventral streams, situating peripheral transduction within the broader architecture of conscious and non-conscious visual processing.
, Anxious: Using the Brain to Understand and Treat Fear and Anxiety, 2015supporting
In interpreting this short account of mirror images we must beware of ascribing to Plato too much knowledge of optics. There is no reference to the lens or the retina.
The commentator notes the absence of the retina in Plato’s optics, marking an historical threshold: ancient theories of vision as outgoing rays required neither lens nor retina, underscoring how radically the modern passive-receptor model departs from classical visual theory.
, Plato’s cosmology the Timaeus of Plato, 1997aside