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    Boghossian and Velleman (1989) show that color experience... — Carmelics
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    Supports→Color experiences involve massive error if the relevant features of similarity and difference are features of the experiences themselves rather than features presented in experience.

    Boghossian and Velleman (1989) show that color experience represents objects as having properties that nothing actually instantiates, constituting systematic representational error.

    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Color experiences present objects as intrinsically colored, but physics shows color depends on observer properties like lighting and visual systems.
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    • 2.If experiences systematically misrepresent their objects' actual properties, this explains the appearance-reality gap in color perception.
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    • 3.Representationalism about experience requires specifying what properties are represented; if none match reality, systematic error follows logically.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Colors might be dispositions to cause experiences rather than intrinsic properties, making color experience veridical rather than erroneous.
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    • 2.Calling systematic misrepresentation 'error' assumes we know the content of color experience independently, which is precisely what's disputed.
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    • 3.If color experience evolved to track ecologically relevant surface properties, it succeeds functionally even if physics describes properties differently.
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    Key Terms

    Boghossian and Velleman(authors cited in the statement)
    Two contemporary philosophers (Paul Boghossian and David Velleman) who wrote influential work on how our minds represent the world, particularly about color and perception.
    Systematic representational error(the conclusion about what color experience does)
    A regular, consistent mistake where your mind misrepresents how things actually are in the world—not just a one-time glitch, but a pattern of getting it wrong.
    color experience(as used in philosophy of perception and consciousness)
    What it's actually like to see color—the subjective feeling and perception you have when you look at something colored, not just the physical facts about light wavelengths.
    instantiates(as used in metaphysics)
    To instantiate means to be a specific example or instance of something more general. For example, a red apple instantiates the property 'redness.'
    represent(explaining the relationship between ideas and objects)
    To stand in for or correspond to something else; in this case, how a thought in your mind can be about an object without physically containing it.

    Connections

    2 topics

    Consciousness & Mind1 linkedPerception1 linked

    Related

    Calling systematic misrepresentation 'error' assumes we know the content of colo...Color experiences involve massive error if the relevant features of similarity a...

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit
    Color experiences present objects as intrinsically colored, but physics shows co...
    Colors might be dispositions to cause experiences rather than intrinsic properti...
    +3 moreShow less
    If color experience evolved to track ecologically relevant surface properties, i...If experiences systematically misrepresent their objects' actual properties, thi...Representationalism about experience requires specifying what properties are rep...