Color

[Egosum—]

I don't understand what color is metaphysically.

"Object-as-Perceived"

Color has an identity.

Is color subjective?

A great analogy would to explain to me through the eyes of a color blind in comparison to regular eyes? Is the yellow lamp yellow because we perceive it as yellow from the light frequencies, or does yellow exist without perception? Is color subjective, or is color blind just a disability so we can't see what real color it is?

appreciate it.

[freestyle]

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Ostensive Definition

With certain significant exceptions, every concept can be defined and communicated in terms of other concepts. The exceptions are concepts referring to sensations, and metaphysical axioms.

Sensations are the primary material of consciousness and, therefore, cannot be communicated by means of the material which is derived from them. The existential causes of sensations can be described and defined in conceptual terms (e.g., the wavelengths of light and the structure of the human eye, which produce the sensations of color), but one cannot communicate what color is like, to a person who is born blind. To define the meaning of the concept “blue,” for instance, one must point to some blue objects to signify, in effect: “I mean this.” Such an identification of a concept is known as an “ostensive definition.”

Ostensive definitions are usually regarded as applicable only to conceptualized sensations. But they are applicable to axioms as well. Since axiomatic concepts are identifications of irreducible primaries, the only way to define one is by means of an ostensive definition—e.g., to define “existence,” one would have to sweep one’s arm around and say: “I mean this.”

Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, 52

[DavidOdden]

Color refers to classes of physically-similar sensations. People with normal color vision can perceive physically pretty similar wavelengths as being actually different, but they will be conceptualized as being the same, for example as "yellow". Formation of conceptual distinctions such as between "green" and "blue" is optional, and as an English speaker you would make that distinction (which many languages lack). In languages which have only 6 color concepts, items we call "tan; brown; red" would all be named the same thing.

Colorblindness is multiple conditions. Everybody is "colorblind" when the light amplitude is low enough. Ordinary colorblindness pertains to the inability to distinguish red and green (usually) under lighting circumstances where ordinary people can distinguish the colors, but there is no absolute inability to see color. There is also achromatic color blindness which is like living in black and white TV land. In that case you can only learn the concepts at an abstract level (for example if you studied color in art school).

[Grames]

I don't understand what color is metaphysically.

Color is relational, an effect due to causes within the object and the perceiver's eyes. That is not at all the same thing as subjective.

See Notes on "The Evidence of the Senses", post #13 covers perceptual relativity and color specifically.