The Quest for Reality Subjectivism & the Metaphysics of Colour [Paperback]

We say the grass is green or lemons are yellow to state what everyone knows. But are the things we see around us really colored, or do they only look that way because of the effects of light rays on our eyes and brains? Is color somehow unreal or subjective and dependent on our human perceptions and the conditions under which we see things?

Distinguished scholar Barry Stroud investigates these and related questions inThe Quest for Reality. In this long-awaited book, he examines what a person would have to do and believe in order to reach the conclusion that everyone's perceptions and beliefs about the color of things are illusions and do not accurately represent the way things are in the world as it is independently of us. Arguing that no such conclusion could be consistently reached, Stroud finds that the conditions of a successful unmasking of color cannot all be fulfilled. The discussion extends beyond color to present a serious challenge to many other philosophical attempts to discover the way things really are. A model of subtle, elegant, and rigorous philosophical writing, this study will attract a wide audience from all areas of philosophy.

Chapter 1. Introduction: The Philosophical Project
Chapter 2. The Philosophical Conception of an Independent Reality
Chapter 3. The Idea of Physical Reality
Chapter 4. Unmasking Explanation and the Unreality of Colour
Chapter 5. Perception, Predication, and Belief
Chapter 6. Perceptions of Colour and the Colour of Things
Chapter 7. Perception, Judgment, and Error
Chapter 8. Discomforts and Distortions of Metaphysical Theory
Chapter 9. Engagement, Invulnerability, and Dissatisfaction
Chapter 10. Morals
Bibliography
Index

This strange and absorbing book sets out to undermine the central metaphysical ambition which has dominated philosophy since the 17th century - that of reachinga comprehensive understanding of the world, consistent with modern scienlƒo