Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T12:13:26.419Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Discussion: The Physical Unnaturalness of Churchland's Ellipses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Wayne Wright
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article addresses Paul Churchland's attempt to identify colors with surface reflectance spectra. Of particular concern is Churchland's novel method of approximating surface reflectance spectra. While those approximations are generated by objective means and yield a striking match with human phenomenological color space, they are not physically meaningful. The reason for this is that the method used to produce the approximations induces equivalence classes on surface reflectances that are not invariant under physically appropriate changes of measurement convention. This result undermines Churchland's proposed response to the objection from metamers commonly raised against color physicalism, as his surface reflectance approximations are supposed to provide an objective, physical unifying basis for metamers.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 76 , Issue 3 , July 2009 , pp. 391 - 403
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

‡

Parts of this article have been presented in various forums and I have learned much from the feedback provided by those audiences. A particular debt of thanks is owed to Edward Averill, C. L. Hardin, Kimberly Jameson, Laurence Maloney, Louis Narens, A. Kimball Romney, Whit Schonbein, Michael Webster, and John I. Yellott.

References

Byrne, A., and Hilbert, D. (2003a), “Color Realism and Color Science”, Color Realism and Color Science 26:3–21.Google Scholar
Byrne, A., and Hilbert, D. (2003b), “Color Realism Redux”, Color Realism Redux 26:52–63.Google Scholar
Chittka, L., et al. (1994), “Ultraviolet as a Component of Flower Reflections, and the Colour Perception of Hymenoptera”, Ultraviolet as a Component of Flower Reflections, and the Colour Perception of Hymenoptera 34:1489–1508.Google ScholarPubMed
Churchland, P. (2007), “On the Reality (and Diversity) of Objective Colors: How Color-Qualia Space Is a Map of Reflectance-Profile Space”, On the Reality (and Diversity) of Objective Colors: How Color-Qualia Space Is a Map of Reflectance-Profile Space 74:119–149.Google Scholar
Gitelson, A., et al. (2002), “Assessing Carotenoid Content in Plant Leaves with Reflectance Spectroscopy”, Assessing Carotenoid Content in Plant Leaves with Reflectance Spectroscopy 75:272–281.Google ScholarPubMed
Hardin, C. L. (1988), Color for Philosophers: Unweaving the Rainbow. Indianapolis: Hackett.Google Scholar
Hardin, C. L. (2003), “A Spectral Reflectance Doth Not a Color Make”, A Spectral Reflectance Doth Not a Color Make 100:191–202.Google Scholar
Kuehni, R., and Hardin, C.L. (2009), “Churchland's Metamers”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Lee, D. (2007), Nature's Palette: The Science of Plant Color. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lycan, W. (2001), “The Case for Phenomenal Externalism”, in Tomberlin, J. (ed.), Philosophical Perspectives, Vol. 15. Cambridge: Blackwell, 17–36.Google Scholar
Lynch, D., and Soffer, B. (1999), “On the Solar Spectrum and the Color Sensitivity of the Eye”, On the Solar Spectrum and the Color Sensitivity of the Eye 10:28–30.Google Scholar
Lythgoe, J. (1979), The Ecology of Vision. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
MacLeod, D., and Golz, J. (2003), “A Computational Analysis of Colour Constancy”, in Mausfeld, R. and Heyer, D. (eds.), Colour Perception: Mind and the Physical World. London: Oxford University Press, 205–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maloney, L. (1999), “Physics-Based Approaches to Modeling Surface Color Perception”, in Gegenfurtner, K. R. and Sharpe, L. T. (eds.), Color Vision: From Genes to Perception. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 387–416.Google Scholar
Maloney, L. (2003), “The Importance of Realistic Models of Surface and Light in the Study of Human Colour Vision”, in Mausfeld, R. and Heyer, D. (eds.), Colour Perception: Mind and the Physical World. London: Oxford University Press, 243–246.Google Scholar
Merzlyak, M., et al. (2003), “Application of Reflectance Spectroscopy for Analysis of Higher Plant Pigments”, Application of Reflectance Spectroscopy for Analysis of Higher Plant Pigments 50:785–792.Google Scholar
Mizokami, Y., et al. (2006), “Nonlinearities in Color Coding: Compensating Color Appearance for the Eye's Spectral Sensitivity”, Nonlinearities in Color Coding: Compensating Color Appearance for the Eye's Spectral Sensitivity 6:996–1007.Google ScholarPubMed
Narens, L., and Mausfeld, R. (1992), “On the Relationship of the Psychological and the Physical in Psychophysics”, On the Relationship of the Psychological and the Physical in Psychophysics 99:467–479.Google Scholar
Nassau, K. (2001), The Physics and Chemistry of Color: The Fifteen Causes of Color. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Palmer, S. (1999), Vision Science: Photons to Phenomenology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Reynolds, P., and Lavigne, J. (1981), “Visible and Ultraviolet Reflectance Characteristics of Arctic Homeotherms”, Visible and Ultraviolet Reflectance Characteristics of Arctic Homeotherms 25:299–308.Google Scholar
Romney, A. K., and Fulton, J. (2006), “Transforming Reflectance Spectra into Munsell Color Space by Using Prime Colors”, Transforming Reflectance Spectra into Munsell Color Space by Using Prime Colors 103:15698–15703.Google ScholarPubMed
Sumner, P., and Mollon, J. D., (2000), “Chromaticity as a Signal of Ripeness in Fruits Taken by Primates”, Chromaticity as a Signal of Ripeness in Fruits Taken by Primates 203:1987–2000.Google ScholarPubMed
Thornton, W., (1998), “How Strong Metamerism Disturbs Color Spaces”, How Strong Metamerism Disturbs Color Spaces 23:402–407.Google Scholar
Tye, M. (2006), “The Puzzle of True Blue”, The Puzzle of True Blue 66:173–178.Google Scholar
Wandell, B. (1995), Foundations of Vision. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer.Google Scholar