TY - JOUR
T1 - Can the physicalist explain colour structure in terms of colour experience?
AU - Pautz, Adam
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - Physicalism about colour is the thesis that colours are identical with response-independent, physical properties of objects. I endorse the Argument from Structure against Physicalism about colour. The argument states that Physicalism cannot accommodate certain obvious facts about colour structure: for instance, that red is a unitary colour while purple is a binary colour, and that blue resembles purple more than green. I provide a detailed formulation of the argument. According to the most popular response to the argument, the Physicalist can accommodate colour structure by explaining it in terms of colour experience. I argue that this response fails. Along the way, I examine other interesting issues in the philosophy of colour and colour perception, for instance the relational structure of colour experience and the description theory of how colour names refer.
AB - Physicalism about colour is the thesis that colours are identical with response-independent, physical properties of objects. I endorse the Argument from Structure against Physicalism about colour. The argument states that Physicalism cannot accommodate certain obvious facts about colour structure: for instance, that red is a unitary colour while purple is a binary colour, and that blue resembles purple more than green. I provide a detailed formulation of the argument. According to the most popular response to the argument, the Physicalist can accommodate colour structure by explaining it in terms of colour experience. I argue that this response fails. Along the way, I examine other interesting issues in the philosophy of colour and colour perception, for instance the relational structure of colour experience and the description theory of how colour names refer.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=61149270803&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00048400601079094
DO - 10.1080/00048400601079094
M3 - Review article
SN - 0004-8402
VL - 84
SP - 535
EP - 564
JO - Australasian Journal of Philosophy
JF - Australasian Journal of Philosophy
IS - 4
ER -