Outside color: perceptual science and the puzzle of color in philosophy PDF
Preview Outside color: perceptual science and the puzzle of color in philosophy
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 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional use. For information, please email [email protected] This book was set in Stone Sans and Stone Serif by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited. Printed and bound in the United States of America. 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
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