Outside color: perceptual science and the puzzle of color in philosophy

263 Pages·2017·18.731 MB·English

by  Chirimuuta, Mazviita

Outside Color

Outside Color
Perceptual Science and the Puzzle of Color in Philosophy
M. Chirimuuta
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2015 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chirimuuta, M. (Mazviita)
Outside color : perceptual science and the puzzle of color in philosophy /
M. Chirimuuta.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-262-02908-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Color (Philosophy) I. Title.
B105.C455C45 2015
121′.35 — dc23
2014045729

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
[T]he whole philosophy of perception from Democritus’ s time downwards has been
just one long wrangle over the paradox that what is evidently one reality should be
in two places at once, both in outer space and in a person’ s mind.
— William James (1904, 481)

Contents
Preface ix
1 Color and its Questions 1
2 What Everyone Thinks about Color, and Why 19
3 Realism, Antirealism, Relationism 43
4 Coloring In, and Coloring For 69
5 Perceptual Pragmatism 101
6 Active Color 131
7 True Colors 159
8 Outerness without Ontological Commitment 187
References 215
Index 241

Preface
This book is intended as an integrated study of the history, philosophy, and
science of color. Each of these disciplines has a chapter devoted more or less
exclusively to it: Chapter 2 is historical, chapter 3 is devoted to contempo-
rary philosophy of color, and chapter 4 to contemporary science of color.
From chapters 5 to 8 the integration occurs. Sometimes specific sections
and subsections contain historical material that holds a mirror to the con-
temporary issues under discussion. Other sections marshal empirical details
pertinent to the philosophical debate at hand. The problem of color ontol-
ogy is the theme running through the pages, and this unites these different
branches of inquiry to a common purpose.
Because this work devotes attention to three rather different disciplines,
I have not covered any one of them in all of the depth or detail that would
be expected in a study of singular focus. For example, I do not analyze all
the philosophical arguments for and against color relationism with the
thoroughness that I much admire in Cohen’ s (2009) T he Red and the Real .
Indeed, I would refer the reader seeking such a focus to that important
book. Similarly, my historical treatment is not that of a dedicated historian.
In searching out the transitions and traditions in thought that have most
shaped the problem of color ontology I have not attempted novel engage-
ments with primary texts and have deferred to the readings of specialist
historians. My use of this material has been selective, and may well appear
superficial; I hope that the reader will allow some charity here since my
goal is not ultimately that of a historical scholar, but of a philosopher tak-
ing the long view.
Any review of current science is destined to be out of date by the time it
goes to press. While I have attempted to give an up to date, if partial, over-
view of color psychophysics, psychology, and neurophysiology, it is likely