In Book II of his Meditations, Rene Descartes asked a question that in time came to be known for its notoriety: "What do I see from the window beyond hats and cloaks that might cover artificial machines, whose motions might be determined by springs?" (Descartes R, Meditations. In: Veitch J (ed) The method, meditations and philosophy of Descartes. Tudor Publishing Co, New York, pp 206–282, 1641/1924: 232). In his question, Descartes was juxtaposing perception against judgment, and to some commentators, even posing question regarding the existence of other minds (Matthews GB, Descartes and the problem of other minds. In: Rorty AO (ed) Essays on Descartes' meditations. University of California Press, Berkeley/Los Angeles, pp 141–152, 1986). It is commonplace that the settings of Descartes' question are a scene whereby "there are men crossing the square in the rain underneath the hats and cloaks which are alone visible from an upper window" (Baker 2000: 625).