PHIL690 SP26
Graduate Seminar in Special Topics (PHIL690)
Topic: Color, Mind, and World
Dr. Wayne Wright
Mondays & Wednesdays · 11:00am–12:15pm · LA5–246
In this course, we will focus on color vision to examine the relationship between the mind and the world. Specifically, we will be interested in the fit between the color-rich world we encounter when we open our eyes and the world as it is described by various sciences. We will be particularly concerned with color constancy. Put roughly, color constancy is the stability of perceived color across changes in viewing conditions. It is natural to think that this sort of perceptual stability is a sign that, in some way, our experience puts us into close contact with a stable external world. While it might seem obvious that our color experience (typically) evinces such constancy, it turns out that it is hard to pin down exactly what the phenomenon amounts to. Morever, some researchers have seriously questioned whether our color experience really is constant. Aside from color constancy, methodological and lingusitic issues will also receive attention.
The course readings will be drawn from a mix of philosophical and scientific sources. Representative authors include Derek Brown, Alex Byrne & David Hilbert, Will Davies, David Foster, Ron Giere, Gary Hatfield, Dorothea Jameson & Leo Hurvich, Kimberly Jameson, Rainer Mausfeld, Ana Radonic & David Brainard, Adam Reeves, and Mark Wilson. Note that, while the topic of this course connects with that of my section of PHIL593 from FA25, the assigned readings for this course will be entirely disjoint from those for that course (or nearly so). It is not all necessary for students enrolling in this course to have taken that section of PHIL593.