Quotes from James J. Gibson

The perception of what a thing is and the perception of what it means are not separate, either.

But, actually, an affordance is neither an objective property nor a subjective property; or it is both if you like. An affordance cuts across the dichotomy of subjective-objective and helps us to understand its inadequacy. It is equally a fact of the environment and a fact of behavior. It is both physical and psychical, yet neither. An affordance points both ways, to the environment and to the observer.

We should begin thinking of events as the primary realities and of time as an abstraction from them—a concept derived mainly from regular repeating events, such as the ticking of clocks. Events are perceived, but time is not (Gibson, 1975).

But then, of course, one can peek through the fingers, which is not only pleasurable but a lesson in practical optics.

And the careful manipulation of the occluding edges of clothing with progressive revealing of skin is a form of the theatrical art called stripping.

It must be admitted that when I turn around while driving our car and reply to my wife's protests that I can perfectly well see where I am going without having to look where I am going because the focus of outflow is implicit, she is not reassured.

One sees the environment not with the eyes but with the eyes-in-the-head-on-the-body-resting-on-the-ground.

Psychology is still trying to explain the perception of the position of an object in space, along with its shape, size, and so on, and to understand the sensations of color.

The human young must learn to perceive these affordances, in some degree at least, but the young of some animals do not have time to learn the ones that are crucial for survival.

There has been a great gulf in psychological thought between the perception of space and objects on one hand and the perception of meaning on the other.

The abstract analysis of the world by mathematics and physics rests on the concepts of space and time.

Hence it is that the shape of something is especially meaningful.

I also assume that they are not simply the physical properties of things as now conceived by physical science. Instead, they are ecological, in the sense that they are properties of the environment relative to an animal.

What a thing is and what it means are not separate, the former being physical and the latter mental as we are accustomed to believe.

The meaning or value of a thing consists of what it affords.