Final answer:
Hermann von Helmholtz introduced the concept of unconscious inference in the 18th century, which was crucial to the development of Gestalt psychology and aligns with Bertrand Russell's epistemological ideas.
Step-by-step explanation:
The idea that perception involves inference was introduced in the 18th century by Hermann von Helmholtz, who proposed the theory of unconscious inference. Perception is not merely the passive receipt of these signals, but the active process of generating hypotheses and making inferences about what is out there in the world. The inception of Gestalt psychology by Max Wertheimer and his colleagues, which focused on pattern perception and the organization of sensory information, demonstrated the significance of these perceptual hypotheses. The theories of Bertrand Russell, with his distinction between knowledge by acquaintance and propositional knowledge, also highlight the inferential component of perception and its implications in epistemology. These ideas built upon earlier theories of vision, such as those of Ibn al-Haytham, and were further developed in light of evolutionary biology and the understanding of the brain's inferential abilities.