We have given names to colors and when we ask someone about his or her favorite color we expect to hear a name. But what does the name of a color signify?
That might seem a silly question. So let's dig deeper.
What do you understand when you hear the word "green"? Well you understand a specific color. Color of the trees, as a general example. But what is the color of the trees? Green. Now, I hope you are noticing the circular logic here. What is the universal detonation of the color green?
A scientific mind will probably end this silly discussion just by saying – the color green denotes a certain range of wavelength in the visible area of the electromagnetic wave spectrum. No doubt that's a precise definition. But here the issue is not precision but perception.
Before I write any more, let me jump ahead, and say what I will be trying to convince you about.
Color might be a subjective opinion.
And here is the explanation why it might be so:
Let’s assume two people named A and B.
Now A is a normal everyday person. He sees all colors normally.
B has a strange eye problem (by birth). She sees any green color as blue and any blue color as green.
The interesting question is: Can A ever find out that B sees the world differently than him?
The answer is no.
Let’s think a bit. From her birth B sees the trees (or any green thing) blue. But she have been taught to call the trees (or any other similar colored thing) as green. So even if she sees the trees as blue in general, she will call that color green. Similarly she sees the sky green, but as she is taught from her childhood she calls that "green" blue.
So A and B both say the sky is "blue", even though they see it in different color!
Thus thinking on this topic logically suggests that color can be a subjective opinion. Though we are not saying it is so, we are just pointing out that, in fact if color is subjective, we wont be able to find out!
How do you see the world? Maybe your trees are red and sky is yellow?… You won’t ever know.
No comments:
Post a Comment