Philosophy of color - Wikipedia Philosophy of color From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (August 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) This article needs attention from an expert in Cognitive science or Philosophy/Science. Please add a reason or a talk parameter to this template to explain the issue with the article. WikiProject Cognitive science or WikiProject Philosophy/Science may be able to help recruit an expert. (August 2018) This article may lend undue weight to realist theories of color, which, by cursory reading, are contradicted by science as old as Newton. Please help improve it by rewriting it in a balanced fashion that contextualizes different points of view. (August 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) This article appears to contradict the articles Color and Human vision. Please see discussion on the linked talk page. Please do not remove this message until the contradictions are resolved. (August 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) RGB color star Within the philosophy of color, there is a dispute between color realism, the view that colors are physical properties that objects possess, and color fictionalism, a species of error theory viewing colors according to which there are no such physical properties that objects possess.[1] Contents 1 Theories of color 2 Color discourse 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References 6 Further reading Theories of color[edit] One of the topics in the philosophy of color is the problem of the ontology of color. The questions comprising this field of research are, for example, what kind of properties colors are (i.e. are they physical properties of objects? Or are they properties of their own kind?), but also problems about the representation of colors, and the relationship between the representation of colors and their ontological constitution.[2] Within the ontology of color, there are various competing types of theories. One way of posing their relationship is in terms of whether they posit colors as sui generis properties (properties of a special kind that can't be reduced to more basic properties or constellations of such). This divides color primitivism from color reductionism. A primitivism about color is any theory that explains colors as irreducible properties. A reductionism is the opposite view, that colors are identical to or reducible to other properties. Typically a reductionist view of color explains colors as an object's disposition to cause certain effects in perceivers or the very dispositional power itself (this sort of view is often dubbed "relationalism", since it defines colors in terms of effects on perceivers, but it also often called simply dispositionalism - various forms of course exist). An example of a notable theorist that defends this kind of view is the philosopher Jonathan Cohen. Another type of reductionism is color physicalism. Physicalism is the view that colors are identical to certain physical properties of objects. Most commonly the relevant properties are taken to be reflectance properties of surfaces (though there are accounts of colors apart from surface colors too). Byrne, Hilbert and Kalderon defends versions of this view. They identify colors with reflectance types. A reflectance type is a set, or type, of reflectances, and a reflectance is a surface's disposition to reflect certain percentages of light specified for each wavelength within the visible spectrum. Both relationalism and physicalism of these kinds are so called realist theories, since apart from specifying what colors are, they maintain that colored things exist. Primitivism may be either realist or antirealist, since primitivism simply claims that colors aren't reducible to anything else. Some primitivists further accept that, though colors are primitive properties, no real or nomologically possible objects have them. Insofar as we visually represent things as colored - on this view - we are victims of color illusions. For this reason primitivism that denies that colors are ever instantiated is called an error theory. Color discourse[edit] The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (May 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) If color fictionalism is true, and the world has no colors, should one just stop color discourse, and all the time wear clothes that clash with each other? Prescriptive color fictionalism would say no. In prescriptive color fictionalism, while color discourse is, strictly speaking, false, one should continue using it in everyday life as though color properties do exist. Color vision became an important part of contemporary analytic philosophy due to the claim by scientists like Leo Hurvich that the physical and neurological aspects of color vision had become completely understood by empirical psychologists in the 1980s. An important work on the subject was C. L. Hardin's 'Color for Philosophers,' which explained stunning empirical findings by empirical psychologists to the conclusion that colors cannot possibly be part of the physical world, but are instead purely mental features. David Hilbert and Alexander Byrne have devoted their careers to philosophical issues regarding color vision. Byrne and Hilbert have taken a minority position that colors are part of the physical world. Nigel J.T. Thomas provides a particularly clear presentation of the argument. The psychologist George Boeree, in the tradition of J. J. Gibson, specifically assigns color to light, and extends the idea of color realism to all sensory experience, an approach he refers to as "quality realism".[citation needed] Jonathan Cohen (of UCSD) and Michael Tye (of UT Austin) have also written many essays on color vision. Cohen argues for the uncontroversial position of color relationalism with respect to semantics of color vision in Relationalist Manifesto. In The Red and the Real, Cohen argues for the position, with respect to color ontology that generalizes from his semantics to his metaphysics. Cohen's work marks the end of a vigorous debate on the topic of color that started with Hardin.[citation needed] Michael Tye argues, among other things, that there is only one correct way to see colors. Therefore, the colorblind and most mammals do not really have color vision because their vision differs from the vision of "normal" humans. Similarly, creatures with more advanced color vision, although better able to distinguish objects than people, are suffering from color illusions because their vision differs from humans. Tye advanced this particular position in an essay called True Blue. Paul Churchland (of UCSD) has also commented extensively on the implication of color vision science on his version of reductive materialism. In the 1980s Paul Churchland's view located colors in the retina. But his more recent view locates color in spectral opponency cells deeper in the color information stream. Paul Churchland's view is similar to Byrne and Hilbert's view, but differs in that it emphasized the subjective nature of color vision and identifies subjective colors with coding vectors in neural networks. Many philosophers follow empirical psychologists in endorsing color irrealism, the view that colors are entirely mental constructs and not physical features of the world. Surprisingly, most philosophers who have extensively addressed the topic have attempted to defend color realism against the empirical psychologists who universally defend color antirealism.[according to whom?][citation needed] Jonathan Cohen has edited a collection of essays on the topic of color philosophy called Color Vision and Color Science, Color Ontology and Color Science. See also[edit] Fictionalism Qualia Realism Notes[edit] ^ "Colour Fictionalism – SFU" (PDF). sfu.ca. Retrieved 23 March 2018. ^ Maund, Barry (23 March 2018). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 23 March 2018 – via Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. References[edit] Maund, Barry (1 December 1997). "Color". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. Retrieved 17 August 2018. Byrne, Alex; Hilbert, David R. (2003). "Color realism and color science" (PDF). Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 26 (1): 3–64. doi:10.1017/S0140525X03000013. hdl:1721.1/50993. PMID 14598439. Thomas, Nigel J. T. (2001). "Color realism: Toward a solution to the "hard problem"". Consciousness and Cognition. 10 (1): 140–145. doi:10.1006/ccog.2000.0484. PMID 11273636. S2CID 6593866. Retrieved 17 August 2018. Eklund, Matti (30 March 2007). "Fictionalism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. Retrieved 17 August 2018. Kalderon, Mark Eli (2005). Fictionalism in Metaphysics. Clarendon. ISBN 978-0-19-928219-7. Gatzia, Dimitria Electra (2010). "Colour Fictionalism" (PDF). Rivista di Estetica. 1 (43): 109–123. Boeree, C. George (2002). "Quality Realism". Shippensburg University. Retrieved 17 August 2018. Further reading[edit] Hardin, C. L. (1988). Color for Philosophers: Unweaving the Rainbow. Hackett Publishing. ISBN 978-0872200401. v t e Color topics Red Orange Yellow Green Cyan Blue Indigo Violet Purple Magenta Pink Brown White Gray Black Color science Color physics Electromagnetic spectrum Light Rainbow Visible Spectral colors Chromophore Structural coloration Animal coloration Color of chemicals Water On Vision and Colours Metamerism Spectral power distribution Color perception Color vision Color blindness Achromatopsia test Tetrachromacy Color constancy Color term Color depth Color photography Spot color Color printing Web colors Color mapping Color code Color management Chrominance False color Chroma key Color balance Color cast Color temperature Eigengrau The dress Color psychology Color symbolism Color preferences Lüscher color test Kruithof curve Political color National colors Chromophobia Chromotherapy Color philosophy Color space Color model additive subtractive Color mixing Primary color Secondary color Tertiary color (intermediate) Quaternary color Quinary color Aggressive color (warm) Receding color (cool) Pastel colors Color gradient Color scheme Color tool Monochromatic colors Complementary colors Analogous colors Achromatic colors (Neutral) Polychromatic colors Impossible colors Light-on-dark Tinctures in heraldry Color theory Chromaticity diagram Color solid Color wheel Color triangle Color analysis (art) Color realism (art style) Color terms Basic terms Blue Green Red Yellow Pink Purple Orange Black Gray White Brown Cultural differences Linguistic relativity and the color naming debate Blue–green distinction in language Color history Color in Chinese culture Traditional colors of Japan Human skin color Color dimensions Hue Dichromatism Colorfulness (chroma and saturation) Tints and shades Lightness (tone and value) Grayscale Color organizations Pantone Color Marketing Group Color Association of the United States International Colour Authority International Commission on Illumination (CIE) International Color Consortium International Colour Association Lists List of colors: A–F List of colors: G–M List of colors: N–Z List of colors (compact) List of colors by shade List of color palettes List of color spaces List of Crayola crayon colors history Color chart List of RAL colors List of web colors Related Vision Digital image processing Multi-primary color display Quattron Qualia Lighting Local color (visual art) Category Index v t e Philosophy Branches Traditional Metaphysics Epistemology Logic Ethics Aesthetics Philosophy of... 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