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A sense of color

שו”תCategory: philosophyA sense of color
asked 4 years ago

Hello Rabbi
Regarding the representation of color in one person’s feelings compared to its representation in another person’s:
Apparently we shouldn’t have a problem with color perception. If there’s an argument, we’ll explain to the arguers how a spectroscope works, and from now on there will surely be agreement.
I heard an interesting reference on the program Three Knowers, a tractate here from August 11, 2021 (title of the tractate: How the Mind Creates Motivation). Starting at minute 36. Rona Israel Kolat, starting at minute 40, explained about the mixing of senses. Sensations of sound, color, and taste are interconnected.
I suppose one can explain one’s inability to know what the representation of a certain color is in another’s feelings by comparing it to the feeling of pain. Here, unlike color or sound, it is impossible to point to something external, objective.
For me, a toothache feels very different from the pain of a finger bump. The intensity of the pain may be similar, but it is different. It is possible that what someone feels in their teeth is the same as what I feel in my finger or vice versa.
“Mary’s room.” Let’s say Mary is a dentist, who has also studied the nervous system, how pain signals are transmitted, and so on, but fortunately for her, for better or for worse, her teeth have never hurt, she has never needed a filling or root canal. What will she learn if tooth decay attacks her?
Regards


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מיכי Staff answered 4 years ago
Understanding how a spectroscope works won’t solve any problem. The question is what do they see in their inner consciousness when they look at the color you call red. They will call it red too but they might see green (or hear music). The feeling of pain usually has an external factor (some blow or wound). The feeling of pain, like any feeling, is of course subjective. Therefore, there too, we have no way of ensuring that the other person feels it as we do. And the same goes for Mary. There is no difference between pain and color.

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