“Why Do Mirrors Reverse Right/Left but Not Up/Down?”, Ned J. Block1974-05-16 (ontology, science)⁠:

People who ask this question [about mirrors] rarely know just what question it is that they are asking.

I shall argue that there are many interpretations of the question, and that they fall into two general categories:

1. interpretations on which the correct response to “Why do mirrors…?” is: they don’t;

2. interpretations on which mirrors do reverse right/left and not up/down, but where one can explain why they do through an examination of the concepts ‘right’, ‘left’, ‘up’, and ‘down’.

[cf. non-reversing mirror, “The Looking-Glass War: Why don’t we see ourselves upside down in the mirror?”, Good and Real]

See Also:

• Wittgenstein on The Standard Metre

• Generalizing From One Example

• Why did we think we dreamed in black and white?

• Do People Still Report Dreaming in Black and White? An Attempt to Replicate a Questionnaire from 1942

• Are impossible figures possible?

• Are philosophers expert intuiters?