"Beginning in the seventeenth century, the greatest French writers and artists became embroiled in an extended debate that turned on the priority of painting or sculpture, touch or sight, color or design, ancients or moderns. Philosopher Jacqueline Lichtenstein guides us through these historic quarrels, showing what was at stake, decoding the key terms of the heated discussions, and revealing how the players were influenced by the concurrent explosion of scientific discoveries concerning the senses of sight and touch. Drawing on the work of Rene Descartes, Roger de Piles, Denis Diderot, Charles Baudelaire, Emile Zola, and Joris-Karl Huysmans, among many others. The Blind Spot lets us eavesdrop on a lively and contentious conversation that preoccupied French intellectuals for three hundred years."--Jacket.