The Problem of Colour
I don&#x27;t know what this book argues specifically, but the problem of color is very much a special case of the problem of qualia. If one takes a presumptuous and shallow view of science, one might be inclined to accept Galileo&#x27;s characterization of color. However, that&#x27;s just an accident of history and not the result of having comprehended some essential scientific fact concerning color. The invention and subsequent consignment of qualia (here, color) to conscious experience is the consequence not of scientific discovery, but of a metaphysics -- and a deeply flawed metaphysics at that -- that has been lurking in our thinking since Galileo and Descartes. That metaphysics proposes that the world is composed of two kinds of substances, namely, the material res extensa (things extended in space) and the immaterial res cogitans (for all intents and purposes, minds). What can not be attributed to res extensa (e.g., color) is attributed to minds, so really, when physicists talk about color, they are not speaking of color in conformity with the common understanding of color, but in terms of a redefinition of color.<p>The problem of qualia comes into play most especially when a materialist metaphysical position is accepted of the kind where the immaterial res cogitans is denied. The materialist is then faced with the task of explaining how all of that which was attributed to minds (e.g., color) -- and indeed minds themselves -- is really something that can be attributed to res extensa. The kicker is, of course, that you can&#x27;t, at least not without radically reforming how you understand matter. It is by definition impossible to locate color in matter given a Cartesian understanding of matter. Many physicists, in their more philosophical moments, tacitly accept a metaphysical position of that kind.<p>What&#x27;s important is that the modern understanding of color, one that attributes it to consciousness rather than things, is not a scientific position. It is a metaphysical position and a very problematic one that is running its course as philosophers and scientists try helplessly and in vain to explain things like consciousness and the objects of consciousness.