Cogprints

The Disunity of Color

Matthen, Mohan (1999) The Disunity of Color. [Journal (Paginated)]

Full text available as:

[img] ASCII
80Kb

Abstract

What is color? What is color vision? Most philosophers answer by reference to humans: to human color qualia, or to the environmental properties or "quality spaces" perceived by humans. It is argued, with reference to empirical findings concerning comparative color vision and the evolution of color vision, that all such attempts are mistaken. An adequate definition of color vision must eschew reference to its outputs in the human cognition and refer only to inputs: color vision consists in the use of wavelength discrimination in the construction of visual representations. A color quality is one that is generated from such processing.

Item Type:Journal (Paginated)
Keywords:color, color perception, functionalism, anthropocentric definitions, realism
Subjects:Philosophy > Philosophy of Mind
ID Code:897
Deposited By: Matthen, Mohan
Deposited On:25 Jul 2000
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:54

References in Article

Select the SEEK icon to attempt to find the referenced article. If it does not appear to be in cogprints you will be forwarded to the paracite service. Poorly formated references will probably not work.

Evan Thompson, Adrian G. Palacios, and Francisco J. Varela, "Ways of Coloring: Comparative Color Vision as a Case Study for Cognitive Science," (with Open Peer Commentary) Behavioral and Brain Sciences 15 (1992): 1-74.

David Lewis, "Naming the Colours," Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 75 3, (1997): 325-42

Evan Thompson, "Novel Colours," Philosophical Studies 68 (1992): 321-49.

Timothy H. Goldsmith, "Color Vision of Birds," in H.P Ziegler and H-J Bischof (eds) Vision, Brain, and Behaviour in Birds (Cambridge Mass: MIT Press, Bradford Books, 1993): 77-99.

C.L. Hardin, Color for Philosophers: Unweaving the Rainbow (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1988)

Christa Neumeyer, "Evolution of Colour Vision," in J.R. Cronly-Dillon and R.L. Gregory (eds), Evolution of the Eye and Visual System (Basingstoke and London: Macmillan, 1991): 284-305.

David Hilbert, "What is Color Vision?" Philosophical Studies 68 (1992): 351-70.

Timothy H. Goldsmith, Goldsmith, "Optimization, Constraint, and History in the Evolution of the Eyes," Quarterly Review of Biology 56 (1990): 281-322

Evan Thompson, Colour Vision: A Study in Cognitive Science and the Philosophy of Perception (London: Routledge, 1993)

Evan Thompson, "Colour Vision, Evolution, and Perceptual Content," Synthese 104 (1995): 1-32

J.B. Mollon, "Uses and Evolutionary Origins of Primate Colour Vision," in J.R. Cronly-Dillon and R.L. Gregory, Evolution of the Eye: 306-319

Oliver Sacks, The Island of the Colorblind (New York: Vintage Books, Random House, 1998)

Mohan Matthen, "Biological Universals and the Nature of Fear," Journal of Philosophy XCV 3 (March 1998): 105-32.

Mohan Matthen, "Biological Functions and Perceptual Content," Journal of Philosophy LXXXV (1988): 5-27.

E.H. Land and J.J. McCann, "Lightness and Retinex Theory," Journal of the Optical Society of America 61 (1971): 1-11

D.M. Armstrong, A Theory of Universals, vol. 2 of Universals and Scientific Realism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978)

Rudolf Carnap, The Logical Structure of the World, trans. Rolf A. George (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, [1928] 1967)

David Hilbert, Color and Color Perception, CSLI Lecture Notes 9, (Stanford: CSLI, 1987)

Alex Byrne and Hilbert, "Colors and Reflectances" in Byrne and Hilbert (eds.), Readings on Color, vol. 1: The Philosophy of Color (Cambridge Mass: MIT, Bradford Books, 1997)

C.L. Hardin, "A New Look at Color," American Philosophical Quarterly 21 (1984)

D.M. Armstrond, Universals: An Opinionated Introduction (Boulder: Westview Press, 1989)

C.L. Hardin and Luisa Maffi, "Introduction," in Hardin and Maffi (eds) Color Categories in Thought and Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997): 1-18

Gerald H. Jacobs, Comparative Color Vision (New York: Academic Press, 1981)

Metadata

Repository Staff Only: item control page