Contrariety in plane mirror reflections.

In reflections, identity and contrariety are face to face. In fact, the surface of a mirror creates a special phenomenal space where the joint experience of identity and contrariety is maximally present, although the optical rules which explain the physics of reflections do not acknowledge this fact. The debate on the mirror question (i.e. why a mirror reverses left and right but not up and down) which apparently highlights the inversion produced, has not taken the perceptual exploration of the phenomenon far enough. This chapter offers an experimental framework for an investigation into the two perceptual experiences of identity and contrariety and recognizes their role as basic components of the phenomenal geometry of mirror images.