Abstract
A “concept” in the sense favoured by Wittgenstein is a paradigm for a transition between parts of a notational system. A concept-determining sentence such as “There is no reddish green” registers the absence of such a transition. This suggests a plausible account of what is perceived in an experiment that was first designed by Crane and Piantanida, who claim to have induced perceptions of reddish green. I shall propose a redescription of the relevant phenomena, invoking only ordinary colour concepts. This redescription is not ruled out by anything the experimenters say. It accounts for certain peculiarities in both their descriptions and their subjects’, and suggests that instead of discovering forbidden colours the experimenters introduced a new use of “-ish”. Still, there is a point in speaking of “reddish green” in their context, which can be motivated by invoking what Wittgenstein calls a “physiognomy”.
Bibliography
Billock, Vincent A./Gerald A. Gleason/Brian H. Tsou (2001): “Perception of forbidden colors in retinally stabilized equiluminant images: an indication of softwired cortical color opponency?”. In: Journal of the Optical Society of America, Vol. 18, No. 10, pp. 2398–2403.10.1364/JOSAA.18.002398Search in Google Scholar
Billock, Vincent A./Brian H. Tsou (2010): “Seeing Forbidden Colours”. In: Scientific American, Vol. 302, No. 2, pp. 72–77.10.1038/scientificamerican0210-72Search in Google Scholar
Crane, Hewitt D./Thomas P. Piantanida (1983): “On Seeing Reddish Green and Yellowish Blue”. In: Science, New Series, Vol. 221, No. 4615, pp. 1078–1080.10.1126/science.221.4615.1078Search in Google Scholar
Forster, Michael N. (2004): Wittgenstein on the Arbitrariness of Grammar. Princeton, Oxford: Princeton University Press.10.1515/9781400826049Search in Google Scholar
Frege, Gottlob (1892): “Über Begriff und Gegenstand”. In: Vierteljahresschrift für wissenschaftliche Philosophie, Vol. 16, pp. 192–205.Search in Google Scholar
Hsieh, Po-Jang/Peter Ulric Tse (2006): “Illusory colour mixing upon perceptual fading and filling-in does not result in ‘forbidden colors’.” In: Vision Research, Vol. 46, pp. 2251–2258.Search in Google Scholar
Livitz, Gennady/Arash Yazdanbakhsh/Rhea T. Eskew, Jr./Ennio Mingolla (2011): “Perceiving Opponent Hues in Color Induction Displays”. In: Seeing and Perceiving, Vol. 24, pp. 1–17.Search in Google Scholar
Lugg, Andrew (2010): “Wittgenstein on Reddish Green”. In: Antonio Marques/Nuno Venturinha (Eds.): Wittgenstein on Forms of Life and the Nature of Experience. Bern: Peter Lang, pp. 155–181.Search in Google Scholar
Raatzsch, Richard (1995): “Begriffsbildung und Naturtatsachen”. In: Eike von Savigny (Ed.). Wittgenstein über die Seele. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, pp. 268– 280.Search in Google Scholar
Russell, Bertrand (1936): “The Limits of Empiricism”. In: Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series, Vol. XXXVI, pp. 131–150.10.4324/9780203713952-65Search in Google Scholar
Russell, Bertrand (1984 [1913]): Theory of Knowledge: The 1913 Manuscript. Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, Vol. 7. London: Allen & Unwin.Search in Google Scholar
Schulte, Joachim (2010): “Concepts and Concept-Formation”. In: Nuno Venturinha (Ed.): Wittgenstein After his Nachlass. Basingstoke, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 128–142.10.1057/9780230274945_9Search in Google Scholar
Schulte, Joachim (2014): “We Have a Colour System as We Have a Number System”. In: Frederik A. Gierlinger/Štefan Riegelnik (Eds.): Wittgenstein on Colour. Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 21–32.10.1515/9783110351101.21Search in Google Scholar
Suarez, Juan/Martine Nida-Rümelin (2009): “Reddish Green: A Challenge for Modal Claims About Phenomenal Structure”. In: Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 78, No. 2, pp. 346–391.Search in Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1956): Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics. (RFM). Georg H. von Wright/Rush Rhees/G. E. M. Anscombe (Eds.). Transl. by G. E. M. Anscombe. Oxford: Blackwell, 1956; 2nd edition, 1967; 3rd edition, 1978.Search in Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1974 [1969]): Über Gewissheit – On Certainty. (OC). G. E. M. Anscombe (Ed. and transl.)/D. Paul (transl.)/Georg H. von Wright (Ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell. Search in Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1976 [1939]): Lectures on the Foundations of Mathematics. (LFM). Cora Diamond (Ed.). Hassocks: The Harvester Press.Search in Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1979): Bemerkungen über Farben – Remarks on Colour. (RC). G. E. M. Anscombe (Ed. and transl.). Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1980a): Lectures, Cambridge, 1930–1932. (LWL). Desmond Lee (Ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1980b): Remarks on the Philosophy of Psychology. Vol. 2. (RPP II). G. E. M. Anscombe/Georg H. von Wright (Eds.). Transl. by G. E. M. Anscombe. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1992): Last Writings on the Philosophy of Psychology: The Inner and the Outer. Vol. 2. (LW II). Georg H. von Wright/Heikki Nyman (Eds.). Transl. by C. G. Luckhardt/M. A. E. Aue. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1993): Philosophical Occasions 1912–1951. (PO). James C. Klagge/Alfred Nordmann (Eds.). Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett Publishing.Search in Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1993): “Notes for Lectures on ‘Private Experience’ and ‘Sense Data’”. (NFL). In: Philosophical Occasions 1912–1951, pp. 200–288.10.2307/2183568Search in Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (2001): Nachlass: The Bergen Electronic Edition. (MS). London, New York: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (2009): Philosophical Investigations. (PI). Revised 4th edition. Peter M. S. Hacker/Joachim Schulte (Eds. and transl.). Transl. by G. E. M. Anscombe. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (2009): Philosophy of Psychology – A Fragment. (PPF = PI II). In: Philosophical Investigations, pp. 182–243.Search in Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (forthcoming): The Whewell’s Court Lectures, Cambridge, 1938–1941. (WCL). Volker A. Munz/Bernhard Ritter (Eds.). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar
© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston