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From: dcs2e@darwin.clas.virginia.edu (David Swanson)
Subject: Re: hard sciences
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Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 15:40:36 GMT
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In article <4pgebf$rcg@news1.slip.net>
matts@lainet.com (Matt Silberstein) writes:

> turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) wrote:
> 
> >-*--------
> >In article <4p1mpt$a6r@lorne.stir.ac.uk>,
> >Richard Badger  <rgb3@stir.ac.uk> wrote:
> >> ... How would someone who spoke such a language [without the word
> >> "red"] percieve what we call red?
> 
> >No different from how he would perceive it on acquiring a word
> >for it.  I see many more colors than I have names for them.  Some
> >of my friends have more names for these colors.  In discussion, I
> >might refer to the thing whose color was a pale shade of purple.
> >My friend will say, "Oh, you mean the fuscia one."  Trust me on
> >this: my perception of color did NOT change when I learned what
> >'fuscia' meant.  And I suspect she *still* knows names for colors
> >I do not know, but I see them nonetheless.
> 
> 
> Actually I don't trust you on this. I used to have a very poor color
> sense. I did not pay much attention to color. If you had asked me the
> color of something I would give a vague answer, "Red", "Blue", "I did not
> pay attention". Well, the last is not vague. But since then I have had
> several learning experiences: a wedding, painting and furnishing a house,
> learning to dress in a formal business environment. All of these have
> expanded my understanding of color, my vocabular about color, and my
> perception of color.
> 
> Or we can take another example. I can go out to a forest and see some
> birds. I go out with an ornithologist who tells me about the birds, how
> they live, what they do, what their names are. The next time I see a
> robin, a Red-Tail Hawk, a Spotted Owl (well maybe not that one :-) ).
> 
> Now my greater understanding of color did not change the wavelength of the
> light, my greater knowledge of birds did not affect (not directly, at
> least) the environment. But my perceptions did change.
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> I intend this as a indecent, and even obscene, message. It is 
> especially unsuitable for minors.
> 
>      --Because I am human, nothing human is beyond me. S.A. --
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------

You guys don't seem to me to be disagreeing.

David

I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.
