The Implications of Land's Theory of Colour Vision

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the implications of Land's theory of color vision. There are two critical areas of difficulty for any metaphysical materialism in the philosophy of mind: the interpretation of intentionality and the reduction of secondary qualities. It explains that a major part of Land's contribution to the problem lies in a series of experiments demonstrating the independence of color and flux and so explaining why no unifying flux formulae for the different colors are forthcoming. The chapter discusses that, at any given wavelength, a surface will reflect some incident light and absorb some. The proportion reflected at a given wavelength is the reflectance at that wavelength. Colored surfaces, as contrasted with white, grey, or black ones, have different reflectances at different points on the spectrum that is why they are described as selective reflectors. Finally, it reviews that if Land is right every variation in color can be correlated with a specific physical variation. In principle, the color that a surface will have in any specified illumination can be calculated and predicted in advance. Color will be in the same position as sound or felt temperature or, if stereo-chemical theory is on the right track, smell.