1 00:00:00,012 --> 00:00:06,112 The last thing I want to talk about today is a wonderful argument called the 2 00:00:06,112 --> 00:00:12,364 perception of color that was submitted by Jose Alberto Mosquea Del Orbea. 3 00:00:12,364 --> 00:00:17,916 And Jose, I hope I've pronounced your name correctly or at least not too 4 00:00:17,916 --> 00:00:22,302 inaccurately. The argument goes like this. 5 00:00:22,302 --> 00:00:27,243 Premise 1, Joe sees as red what Sue sees as blue. 6 00:00:27,243 --> 00:00:32,184 Premise 2, Sue sees as red what Joe sees as blue. 7 00:00:32,184 --> 00:00:36,909 Premise 3, Joe labels red what he sees as red. 8 00:00:36,909 --> 00:00:41,708 Premise 4, Sue labels red what she sees as blue. 9 00:00:41,708 --> 00:00:46,460 Premise 5, Joe labels blue what he sees as blue. 10 00:00:46,460 --> 00:00:51,106 Premise 6, Sue labels blue what she sees as red. 11 00:00:51,106 --> 00:00:58,129 Premise 7, both of them see the green color as green and label it green. 12 00:00:58,130 --> 00:01:02,438 Premise 8, only Sue has this characteristic vision. 13 00:01:02,438 --> 00:01:07,962 Premise 9, the rest of the population sees the colors just as Joe does. 14 00:01:07,962 --> 00:01:14,178 Conclusion, so both of them coincide when they label a color and Sue may not realize 15 00:01:14,178 --> 00:01:19,555 that her color vision differs from that of the rest of the population. 16 00:01:19,555 --> 00:01:25,776 Now, this argument has a very weakly stated conclusion in the version that I 17 00:01:25,776 --> 00:01:30,251 just described. It's that Sue may not realize that she 18 00:01:30,251 --> 00:01:35,401 sees colors differently than the rest of the population does. 19 00:01:35,401 --> 00:01:41,647 Now, to achieve that conclusion, you wouldn't even need all the premises that 20 00:01:41,647 --> 00:01:46,685 Jose put in that argument. It might be true that Sue is color blind 21 00:01:46,685 --> 00:01:52,145 and never realizes that she sees colors differently than the rest of the 22 00:01:52,145 --> 00:01:56,143 population. It's possible, it's unlikely but it's 23 00:01:56,143 --> 00:01:59,226 possible. But, Jose is trying to describe a 24 00:01:59,226 --> 00:02:04,884 situation where the difference between Sue's color vision and Joe's color vision 25 00:02:04,884 --> 00:02:09,428 is systematic and it's not tracked in the labeling that they use. 26 00:02:09,428 --> 00:02:14,600 And Jose's point is that, when the difference in color vision is systematic 27 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:19,684 and not tracked by the labeling in the colors they use, not tracked by their 28 00:02:19,684 --> 00:02:24,229 color nomenclature. Then, Sue very well, may not realize. 29 00:02:24,229 --> 00:02:27,679 It's not just a remote possibility that she may not realize. 30 00:02:27,679 --> 00:02:32,241 Just like someone who's color blind may never realize that they're color blind, 31 00:02:32,241 --> 00:02:36,817 because let's say they're never tested. It's that Sue very well may not realize; 32 00:02:36,817 --> 00:02:41,373 very likely may not realize that she sees colors differently from the rest of the 33 00:02:41,373 --> 00:02:46,692 population. Now, it's an intriguing argument, but I'll 34 00:02:46,692 --> 00:02:53,862 tell you why I'm not convinced. The argument is, in a certain respect, 35 00:02:53,862 --> 00:02:58,075 one-sided. While it describes the situation in which 36 00:02:58,075 --> 00:03:03,619 the normal ways, many of the normal ways, by which Sue might come to know that her 37 00:03:03,619 --> 00:03:08,946 vision differs from that of the rest of the population are cut off from Sue. 38 00:03:08,946 --> 00:03:14,341 She doesn't label colors in a way that would betray the difference between her 39 00:03:14,341 --> 00:03:18,578 color vision and Joe's or that of the rest of the population. 40 00:03:18,579 --> 00:03:24,507 It doesn't consider the fact that Sue might, as a result of her deviant vision, 41 00:03:24,507 --> 00:03:28,234 have very different aesthetic tastes than Joe. 42 00:03:28,234 --> 00:03:34,337 So, for instance, while lots of people love Picasso's blue period, and thanks to 43 00:03:34,337 --> 00:03:37,770 you Jose, I thought about a Spanish artist. 44 00:03:37,771 --> 00:03:43,628 While many people might love Picasso's Blue Period, Sue might find Picasso's Blue 45 00:03:43,628 --> 00:03:47,919 Period to be full of paintings that just don't make any sense. 46 00:03:47,919 --> 00:03:52,783 Because, after all, the blues that Picasso's Blue Period paintings are full 47 00:03:52,783 --> 00:03:56,518 of, don't look blue to Sue. They look some other way to Sue. 48 00:03:56,518 --> 00:04:00,059 And so Sue might not understand those paintings at all. 49 00:04:00,059 --> 00:04:05,393 She might find them repellent. So, there are lots of other sources of 50 00:04:05,393 --> 00:04:12,059 information that Sue could use to find out that her color vision might very well 51 00:04:12,059 --> 00:04:15,906 differ from the color vision of other people. 52 00:04:15,906 --> 00:04:22,312 And this is what I sometimes suspect when I find that people don't like, let's 53 00:04:22,312 --> 00:04:28,707 suppose, wonderful Manchego cheese. If someone doesn't like Manchego cheese, 54 00:04:28,707 --> 00:04:34,487 the only conclusion I can draw from that, is that what Manchego cheese tastes like 55 00:04:34,487 --> 00:04:38,842 to them must be very different from what it tastes like to me. 56 00:04:38,842 --> 00:04:43,329 Maybe their taste buds and my taste buds work very differently. 57 00:04:43,329 --> 00:04:50,199 And so, the way Manchego cheese tastes to them, must be more like, let's say what 58 00:04:50,199 --> 00:04:56,506 foie gras tastes like to me. And that's why they don't like it. 59 00:04:56,506 --> 00:05:03,473 So, while the premises of Jose's argument might all be true. 60 00:05:03,474 --> 00:05:08,527 And they might lead Sue not to be able to tell that her color vision differs from 61 00:05:08,527 --> 00:05:12,527 the color vision as Joe, or of other people in the population. 62 00:05:12,527 --> 00:05:17,625 It's also true that Sue might still very well be able to tell that her color vision 63 00:05:17,625 --> 00:05:22,945 differs from the color vision of Joe and of other people by considering differences 64 00:05:22,945 --> 00:05:24,994 in her aesthetic preferences.