Single Idea 6494

[catalogued under 12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 2. Qualities in Perception / d. Secondary qualities]

Full Idea

If there are good reasons for thinking that physical objects are not literally coloured, and one also refuses to attribute them to sense-contents, then one will have the bizarre theory (which has been recently adopted) that nothing is actually coloured.

Gist of Idea

If objects are not coloured, and neither are sense-contents, we are left saying that nothing is coloured

Source

Howard Robinson (Perception [1994], 1.7)

Book Reference

Robinson,Howard: 'Perception' [Routledge 2001], p.29


A Reaction

It seems to me that objects are not literally coloured, that the air in between does not become coloured, and that my brain doesn't turn a funny colour, so that only leaves colour as an 'interior' feature of certain brain states. That's how it is.