The Quest for Reality Subjectivism and the Metaphysics of Colour

by Stroud, Barry

• ISBN13: 9780195133882
• ISBN10: 0195133889
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-12-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

We say "the grass is green" or "lemons are yellow" to state what everyone knows. But are the things we see around us really colored, or do they only look that way because of the effects of light rays on our eyes and brains? Is color somehow "unreal" or "subjective" and dependent on our human perceptions and the conditions under which we see things? Distinguished scholar Barry Stroud investigates these and related questions in The Quest for Reality . In this long-awaited book, he examines what a person would have to do and believe in order to reach the conclusion that everyone's perceptions and beliefs about the color of things are "illusions" and do not accurately represent the way things are in the world as it is independently of us. Arguing that no such conclusion could be consistently reached, Stroud finds that the conditions of a successful unmasking of color cannot all be fulfilled. The discussion extends beyond color to present a serious challenge to many other philosophical attempts to discover the way things really are. A model of subtle, elegant, and rigorous philosophical writing, this study will attract a wide audience from all areas of philosophy.

Author Biography

Barry Stroud is Mills Professor of Metaphysics and Epistemology at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Hume (1977) and The Significance of Philosophical Scepticism (1984).

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Philosophical Project	3	(18)
The Philosophical Conception of an Independent Reality	21	(24)
The Idea of Physical Reality	45	(24)
Unmasking Explanation and the Unreality of Colour	69	(27)
Perception, Predication, and Belief	96	(22)
Perceptions of Colour and the Colours of Things	118	(27)
Perception, Judgement, and Error	145	(24)
Discomforts and Distortions of Metaphysical Theory	169	(23)
Engagement, Invulnerability, and Dissatisfaction	192	(18)
Morals	210	(16)
Index	226