Many descriptive words, such as 'tall', 'beautiful', 'fat', etc, etc, have something in common: they do not convey a precisely defined meaning. I assume -you will agree with me that there is no general consensus on who is a tall person, who is a beautiful person, etc. Consider someone whose height is 170 cm (5ft 6in). Is this a tall person? If they're male, we're not really sure; but if the person is female, then she is definitely tall, particularly if she's from a Mediterranean country. On the other hand, although we have learnt that the opposite of, say, 'beautiful' is ‘ugly', still, that's not the whole truth: There are millions of people out there that are not beautiful, but they're not ugly either. They're just ordinary people, like me, and probably like you.
Colours are quite interesting in this regard. People do not sense or appreciate colours in the same way. Some weird things happen as a result. I'm sure that you have experienced the following scenario: You're standing in front of a beautiful and colourful landscape, and you decide to take several pictures of it. Later, you check these pictures on your computer or your phone, and you realize that the colours are not those you expected. Why not?
I've already hinted at an explanation of why this happens: colour is a subjective sensation. This means that we cannot directly or objectively measure or describe a colour. For instance, which one of the following colours are more red or less red than the others?
Some people may claim that red and scarlet are the same colour (trust me, they’re not). Others will claim that maroon is too dark to be red, while light coral is too light to be red. These and similar remarks show that we often cannot agree on things that we may have thought were very clear in our minds.
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The Two Dennises
Hannah Mortimer observes a close encounter of the same kind.
Heraclitus (c.500 BC)
Harry Keith lets flow a stream of ideas about permanence and change.
Does the Cosmos Have a Purpose?
Raymond Tallis argues intently against universal intention.
Is Driving Fossil-Fuelled Cars Immoral?
Rufus Duits asks when we can justify driving our carbon contributors.
Abelard & Carneades Yes & No
Frank Breslin says 'yes and no' to presenting both sides of an argument.
Frankl & Sartre in Search of Meaning
Georgia Arkell compares logotherapy and atheistic existentialism.
Luce Irigaray
Luce Irigaray, now ninety-two years old, was, among many other things, one of the most impactful feminists of the 1970s liberation movements - before she was marginalised, then ostracised, from the francophone intellectual sphere.
Significance
Ruben David Azevedo tells us why, in a limitless universe, we’re not insignificant.
The Present Is Not All There Is To Happiness
Rob Glacier says don’t just live in the now.
Philosophers Exploring The Good Life
Jim Mepham quests with philosophers to discover what makes a life good.