The Philosophy of Color

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Instagram: / duncansclarke
Twitter: / duncanc_
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Is color real? If so, what is it? Why does this matter? This video explores the ancient debate between Newton and Goethe to answer these questions and shed some light (pun intended) on why we have certain associations with different colours.
Sources:
Brent Berlin, Paul Kay - Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution.
Kay, Berlin, Maffi, Merrifield, Cook. - The World Color Survey
Josef Albers - Interaction of Color
Kurt Nassau - The Physics and Chemistry of Color: The 15 Causes of Color
Evan Thompson - Colour Vision: A Study in Cognitive Science and Philosophy of Science
James J. Gibson - The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception
Henrik Moetius, Marie Louise Lauridsen - Light. Darkness And Colours (1998 Documentary about Goethe's colour theory)
Songs used (in order of appearance):
Fortress Europe - Dan Bodan
Wehrmut - Godmode
Bonos - Coyote Hearing
Prophet 7 - Noir Et Blanc Vie
Glitchin' a Ride - The Whole Other
MydNyte - Noir Et Blanc Vie
I Am Running Down the Long Hallway of Viewmont Elementary - Chris Zabriskie
Komorebi - Futuremono
Lasting Hope by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. [creativecommons.org/licenses/](creativecommons.org/licenses/)...
Source: [incompetech.com/music/royalty-](incompetech.com/music/royalty-)...
Artist: [incompetech.com/](incompetech.com/)
QuangerineCream - Noir Et Blanc Vie
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
2:35 - Color associations
4:06 - Overview of color science
5:24 - Goethe's theory of color
8:43 - Experiments and illusions
11:22 - Color Dispositionalism
12:31 - The Ecological View
16:27 - Non-human animal color perception
17:03 - The argument from perceiver relativity
17:40 - Evolution

[@maya993]

Every friend group's got the prism guy.

[@longhairdontcare122]

Me. I'm the only guy in my friend group but fortunately I have a few personalities.

[@gramptonst.rumpterfrabble4118]

I've got two of 'em

[@nowayshay]

Had a rainbow guy but we sent him to god

[@marnenotmarnie259]

i must become the prism guy

[@Nick12_45]

❌ Rainbow prism guy ✅ Gay light guy

[@GabrielPerboni]

This subject is super interesting for me. I was born with a genetic condition called retinal dystrophy. This is a progressive disease that slowly destroys the cells responsible for detecting both light and colors, which eventually will turn one partially or completelly blind. Now the really interesting part that has to do with your video: If I see a tree, I see its brown trunk and green leaves against the blue sky. However, if you show me a sheet of paper with these colors, I don't know how to differentiate one from the other, that is, I can see the colors, but only "psychologically" for lack of a better term. Visually impaired people, especially those who wasn't born completelly blind, see various types of interesting phenomena. I suggest those interested to look for Charles Bonnet syndrome. Anyway, thanks for your attention and sorry for the broken English, I understand it better than I write.

[@pickle8533]

don’t worry!! Your English is really good!

[@ellasarax]

this comment is so interesting. i'd never heard of charles bonnet syndrome - apparently one of the only hallucinatory disorders that are not classed as an effect of mental health issues. also don't worry - your english is absolutely flawless.

[@GabrielPerboni]

Hello @@ellasarax, thanks for your kind response! I see a "thing" at the point where I should theoretically be completely blind, but according to the studies I've read, my case does not fit Bonnet's syndrome, hence I call it a "thing"... phenomena are difficult to describe when there are no conventional parallels. But anyway, I discovered over the years that not seeing affects several physical areas that are not exactly vision, such as, for example, the circadian rhythm. Look for a "low sighted" friend and they will tell you that their sleep is erratic. My day is currently 27 to 28 hours long, and it has been increasing over the years, reflecting the lack of cells that control the reception/perception of light. Fun stuff 😜

[@Oscar_Armstrong]

@@GabrielPerboni While that sucks for you, that's also super interesting. I've never thought about how gradual loss of vision could affect someone's circadian rhythm. I wonder if blasting your eyes with bright light (without damaging them) when you first wake up could help realign it.

[@Oscar_Armstrong]

@@GabrielPerboni It also makes me wonder if those with partial/full vision loss can compensate for a loss of light related circadian rhythms with other circadian rhythms like core body temperature and heart rate, in the same way that loss of sight leads to other senses like sound and smell being heightened. Maybe if you eat at consistent times each day, make sure that you're exposed to cold in the morning and warmth in the afternoon, and do breathing exercises to slow your heart rate before sleep it could help realign your body clock? Idk these are all guesses, but it's fun to think about!

[@YuBeace]

Man, the fact that researching colours is both a case of studying inherent properties AND studying perception and psychology really confirms to me that... this is my jam.

[@icecreamguru7584]

for real I'm studying cognitive science so this is like my favourite video ever now haha

[@chrisbovington9607]

But what colour is your jam?

[@YuBeace]

@@chrisbovington9607 Depends entirely on how the light hits it, methinks. :)

[@safe4547]

This might give me that breakthrough I need as an artist. I still struggle on deciding what colors to choose when painting. It takes a lot of time. But this video made me realize that as long as colors are in the context of a scene, then I'm going in the right direction.

[@shadowatch4767]

Bang on! I hope your creations are getting on well with this insight.

[@Andrew-rc3vh]

I just painted my kitchen yellow. It looks out onto a load of green bushes and trees so it works really well.

[@mihailmilev9909]

​@@shadowatch4767right, same

[@mihailmilev9909]

​@@Andrew-rc3vhlol

[@mihailmilev9909]

​@@Andrew-rc3vhthat sounds nice!

[@Well_Earned_Siesta]

Ironically, blue light is hotter than red light. Blue light has a higher wavelength frequency, being closer to ultraviolet, while red is closer to the lower frequency and cooler infrared.

[@zariahlafleurpowell7028]

Interesting like fire blue fire hotter

[@VEVOJavier]

🤓

[@laynedoe3455]

Huh, today I learned!! 😅

[@DD-gi6kx]

blue light is not hotter than red light, but it takes a hotter substance to emit blue light than red

[@catguy2043]

Close but backwards. Infrared transmits more heat than any visible colour frequency. Red, being closer to infrared, transmits more heat than does blue. It is true that objects that are super hot emit more blue light than cooler objects, but the light* itself is not more warm * technically the light emitted *is* warmer and warms objects better, but that's because there is also a larger amount of infrared frequencies emitted as well, not because blue light warms matter more

[@McMingus]

Dude I’ve gotta say this was a such great video, it deserved to do so much better but honestly man you just gotta keep posting stuff, your content is genuinely one of a kind and I love the way you’re able to break down these topics and talk about them You’re 100% gonna blow up and make it big I’m so sure of it

[@azloii9781]

Hello fellow trippers :D

[@forgeahead6287]

I absolutely love videos like this one. I’m an artist and have deep interest in the sciences. Thank you for this lesson on how colors are more than pretty hues.

[@andrewevanyshyn1709]

This feels like a part 2 to your AI video. You said in that video that we are an interaction between ourselves and the environment so it's really cool to see it expanded upon here.

[@sillygoofylesbian]

I don’t know how to explain this, but your videos are good enough to watch while eating. You don’t just throw something on willy nilly and waste food on it

[@amberjones3614]

I completely understand I can’t eat till I put something good on even when I’m like so so hungary

[@Wall-knight]

@@amberjones3614that’s a country, or state or whatever (state of hungryness)

[@wack1305]

Hey I know you don’t get as many views on your non iceberg videos, but I wanted to say that despite that they are incredible videos and you are not wasting your time making them. They have meant a lot to me.

[@andrewvogel5344]

I'm colorblind so I found this very interesting

[@dryelene]

What color associations do you usually have?

[@andrewvogel5344]

@@dryelene blue and purple I can't tell the difference between can I have a lot a problems with green brown and reds I had to take the color blindness test to join the army and was told Im in the top 1% of color deficient people

[@dryelene]

@@andrewvogel5344 did they let you join despite that? Thats pretty cool, how did you react to the video?

[@andrewvogel5344]

@@dryelene to be honest I scored high enough on my ASVAB that I could have picked any job in the army my list went from anything I wanted to 10 jobs that I had to choose from. Color blind people can join that can only do a certain amount of jobs in the military. I've always enjoyed learning things and being as I can't see colors perfectly like everybody else I've always wondered and been curious about colors

[@Wall-knight]

@@andrewvogel5344bros watching without visual 💀

[@Bonzi1nho]

Another great video, colors are one of the best things about living, and one of the best gifts we have from nature. Aesthetics is a really cool part of Philosophy, and it's one of the things that make us look at the world differently, our art and life gets more and more beautiful every day!

[@mystiverse]

Fantastic video, dude! This kind of philosophy that connects cognitive science with phenomenology is right up my street, so this was an excellent watch. Well done!

[@prototropo]

So impressed with the scope and research, writing, editing and prioritizing. Great work. I'd love to hear more about aspects of color assessment I've never quite understood--like saturation, shade, tone, gray-tone, metallic color, light-bleaching, the endless mixed colors--teal, pink, salmon, lilac, sage, umber, cream, brown, vermilion, viridian, etc, and the various over-effects that seem to bear some analogy with the "timbre" of sound--adularescence, opalescence, iridescence, labradorescence, aventurescence, etc.

[@RoccosStuff]

Wow, this video is genuinely one of the best explanations of a complex idea that I've ever seen. Bravo. Can't wait to see what you're working on next!!

[@theyoloer3899]

Color is sooo so extremely cool and I would encourage anyone intrigued in thinking about color this way to read up on some color science stuff! I’m personally studying it as part of my degree and it is just fascinating. The light and objects and the way they interact are all out there, but you need humans there to actually perceive any of it. The psychological aspect of color is one of the most funky and interesting parts of our perception too. Very well put together video!! PS when you mentioned the primary and secondary qualities thing I immediately thought about the fact that we actually have two different metrics for light, one purely objective and the other weighted through a curve for human perception. Again, v cool vid!

[@nik413]

thank u for providing educational and fun to watch vids ur doing so great it’s a shame there’s not a bigger audience but that’s not a reflection of the quality of ur work (which is so entertaining while maintaining the informative qualities i love in video essays)

[@Usnozulo12]

This is one of the best philosophy videos I’ve seen on youtube! So interesting, informative and well thought out yet easy to understand 👏👏👏

[@Felpsout]

I didn’t know what to expect when I clicked on this video, but I gotta say that I was really interested and enjoyed hearing about this subject. You did a damn good job with this video, keep at it

[@colinbrown7947]

Mam, i am just blown away by how good this video was. It was such a great high level overview of so many interesting niches. I wish this video was like 2 hours long and could delve deeper into all the philosophy haha

[@uptownmobilecardetailing]

This is one of the best philosophy videos I’ve seen on youtube! So interesting, informative and well thought out yet easy to understand

[@humanthetooth]

I recently started listened to the audiobook version of An Immense World by Ed Yong while I walk my dog, the book explores how animals perceive their respective worlds and construct reality. Theres a chapter specifically on how different eyes receive color- its absolutely fascinating and pairs really well with this video. Happy to have discovered your channel this way.

[@CathyAutisticCounselling]

I just ordered the book, thank you for alerting me to it.

[@LittleMushroomGuy]

Incredibly well made video, if only I found it sooner since I was unaware that Goethe has a quasi-phenomenology of colors The connection to 4E, ecology and Thompson is great, thats something that iv been researching lately

[@duncanclarke]

Thanks man. 4E cognition is really cool stuff. If you're looking for more Goethe color content I would really recommend the documentary Light, Darkness And Colours if you haven't seen it already. The whole thing is on youtube titled "Goethe's Theory of Colors".

[@Well_Earned_Siesta]

The warm/cold hands in lukewarm water trick is because the way we think about heat and energy. There is no such thing as "cold", there is just greater or lesser amount of energy flow. Heat is always flowing out of the human body. When the outside air temperature is significantly lower than the body, heat/energy flows out quickly. We perceive this rapid heat shedding as "feeling cold", and we usually put on insulating layers to slow down the outward flow. When the temperature is hotter outside of our body, the outward flow of heat slows significantly or can even reverse. We call this "feeling hot". The hand in cold water is accelerated in its heat loss rate, and when that same hand is then plunged into lukewarm water ... "lukewarm" is typically close or just below himan body temperature... then the outward flow rate rapidly slows or even reverses, and that hand thus now "feels warm". The inverse happens for the hand that was first submersed in hot water.

[@ozasylum4150]

Brilliant! I'm a painter who has been teaching color relativity for decades. It requires quite a shift in perception to overcome color constancy see how colors effect each other, but there are many practical ways of doing this. It begins with disconnecting from the namable object; seeing the visual world as a pattern of flat shapes, (back to the Newtonian scientific approach) and then seeing how those shapes interact (a responsive Goethe approach). One learns to place colors on a relative value scale (black to white), and on a relative saturation scale by comparing all the colors in a motif. Even with all those measurements, each person paints with a different set of colors because all the colors a relative and it all depends on your starting point. Thanks for your wonderful video.

[@isaiahw9436]

Awesome video. I can tell a lot of effort and research went into the script and editing. Quality end result!

[@ethoatom668]

I found your channel through the linguistics iceberg, and I've fallen in love with your channel. I've watched most of your content over the past few days and eagerly await what you make in the future.

[@helixmade]

This video was absolutely amazing! One can tell a lot of time and effort was put into this!

[@swainsongable]

Thanks for posting. I did my MA thesis in 1985 on the Newton/Goethe colour controversy and, as quantum physics was discovering at the time, it boiled down to observation versus participation and concluded that you can't have one without the other - but also revealed the bigger question, what is the nature of light? 😉

[@flavertex658]

Big shout-out for participatory knowledge/co-determination between agent and arena. Great video!

[@FerBauser]

This is the most profound video about color psychology I’ve seen in KZbin. Well done!

[@nrem5705]

Good stuff! I remember my art teacher trying to explain these concepts but less clearly, this vid helped make it click

[@robologo]

Basically, different smart people have thought about different parts of human interaction with colour.

[@Sk8Grom]

Very well made, informative and fun. I loved the visual examples, thanks!

[@user-yb7yy6ct2x]

This was absolutely excellent. Thank you for explaining color in such a profound and eloquent way. Much love.

[@dallasthornley]

This is such an excellent video. Thanks for the great info!

[@inevitableschizophrenia]

You're honestly one of my favorite KZbinrs yet! Thank you for the AI video, the far-right comments were really annoying and I'm glad you took a sassy approach to petty comments. This was a very interesting and thought video as wellm

[@griffinhewlett7308]

Good idea about color evolving for more than just to be seen. Organisms that photosynthesis are green because it's the best wavelength to absorb in earth's atmosphere while other colors reflect. In addition evergreen trees are a darker shade of green to help them absorb more heat in the winter which provides more energy to the sounding snow to produce water. Awesome videos 🤙

[@karenrodriguez8357]

awesome video! the last thing about fruits and their seeds it's so beautiful, never imagine that that may be a reason of their colours

[@freshoxygen1353]

Excellent video. Fantastic merging of psychology and biophysics. Well done

[@reatleatx]

Hey bro I never comment on videos, but that was very well made! I respect that, keep it up!

[@Poopmacheyne]

Great video, and extra points for the B of C nod. 👍

[@pissoffliketomorrow458]

great video, especially the explaination of Goethes' and Newtons' philosophy approaches towards explaining colour

[@pinchingstars]

Your videos are epic, with the quality of your content I’m surprised to see your subscriber count so low… keep it up man I’m excited to watch your channel grow. I’ll get to tell my friends I subscribed before it was cool

[@louie7196]

This video is amazing and really opened my eyes to how effective color is, great job !

[@AndyAlex-dz6wf]

Good that i have the honor to be one of first subscribers to you before reaching millions in future keep up it❤

[@fuzzyboon9069]

This is fascinating!! Thank you for this deep dive!

[@9valerip6]

One of the most interesting thing I’ve seen so far! Thank you!!

[@sherion80]

Very interesting insight encompassing so many topics you can make dozens of videos or of it!

[@sodadrinkhat5696]

Alright so here’s what we do. We take 50 human children, 50 of the smartest gray parrots, 50 sign language gorillas, 50 of the smartest dolphins. And ask them all about colors, we’ll figure out if it’s just us or them too?

[@Ean_j]

That's actually a pretty great idea

[@missydube5700]

Never seen a video but I subscribed because this essay is so good!

[@TenNineD]

Hey man I just wanna thank you… your videos have really had a effect on me I’ve listen to deathconsciousness so many times and it’s really really amazing thank you man

[@yuemessias316]

Really really great video and great research! Glad I found this channel

[@dhnyl]

What a beautiful video. I especially like how this relates hunter-gathering (berry picking specifically) with perception of colour. There’s something oddly humbling about that.

[@EpicManaphyDude]

dude this video is so good that it sent me into an existential crisis. I can’t stop thinking about how i’m stuck inside my own mind and own body and will never perceive the world the way anyone else does. thank you

[@cupostuff9929]

Great vid. When you brought up the idea that the animals are interlinked with their environment, my mind jumped to thinking about how fruits are brightly colored so that animals could easily see them, this was just minutes before you mentioned the exact phenomena I was thinking about!

[@kphaxx]

That's the Ligma Effect!

[@cupostuff9929]

@@kphaxx what???

[@kyleeshields6812]

Only Sugondese people get it.

[@audioslave_]

You got a subscriber. Absolutely mindblowing video, great work!

[@ShadinCore]

13:04 damn this quote goes so hard 😭

[@kelly2fly]

In my language (Vietnamese) we use the same word for blue and green, màu xanh. But when we need to be specific we would add a description to that word. For example green would be màu xanh lá or blue would be màu xanh da trời. Literally translate to xanh like leaf and xanh like the sky.

[@montyvierra2678]

Thanks, especially for listing your sources!

[@Aylii1]

Videos like this are just so damn intriguing. It shocks me some people live their whole lives not questioning and wanting to know more about things as simple as color and perception in life. Like the reasoning of it, why it’s a thing, why we see it for what it is, just fascinating!

[@sniedendepoes]

Lavender chads, represent

[@TheDavidMancini]

Great video, really well put together! Thank you!

[@ThePeacefullplay]

Thank you for your videos. I have been watching stuff like this for years but other than Vsauce this is more thought provoking and eye opening than anything I've watched before.

[@amroelkhodrai3048]

been a while since i last consumed high-quality content like this.. keep up the good work!

[@metaDeWeta]

This is a fascinating topic and your video explains it so well!!! I must learn more about this, time to read some books haha.

[@Aluenvey]

One of the interesting thing about color perception is to a certain extent you can train yourself to see subtleties within colors and shades as well. Here not dark, medium, or light red. But rather a coolness or warmth within shades of grey. But it also means, if you work with pixels a lot, you start to tell the difference between solid colors and pixel patterns. So I can detect when green has some blue, or yellow has some red. I also prefer working with hex codes.

[@youmertz]

This is a fascinating and extremely well done summary of colour psychology. Well done!

[@rock-hv6ns]

6:18 i paused and while i was staring it helped me to notice that my screen was a bit dirty, thanks

[@uncreativeusername8362]

I learned a lot from this video. Thank you!

[@JazielDesigns]

Fantastic video! So much great information

[@artgeometrix6346]

This is fantastic. Such a thorough video

[@psterud]

As an artist and art teacher I've noticed that non-artists have a very arduous time learning how to see color and value (darks to lights). They have an associative kind of seeing and tend to apply to a surface what they expect a thing to look like instead of what it actually looks like. It's really interesting. To them all bananas are yellow, all metal is gray, all water is blue, etc. It's a long process to train them out of that type of seeing.

[@Rabbi-Jill-kews]

Great subject dude, love learning obscure stuff like this. At least obscure to most.

[@kreaturs_kave]

Great work on the video, Thank you

[@user-te8yq2ud6w]

Thanks for posting. I did my MA thesis in 1985 on the Newton/Goethe colour controversy and, as quantum physics was discovering at the time, it boiled down to observation versus participation and concluded that you can't have one without the other - but also revealed the bigger question, what is the nature of light?

[@BickSnarf]

I feel like there is a definition for colour outside of an observer. That being which wavelengths of light any given material reflects and absorbs. While I agree that perception and colour are intimately linked I do also believe there is an objective way to define colour

[@GregMatoga]

I'm always amazed at how elaborate, philosophical and humanistic color descriptions are. For a humble engineer, eyes just have built in white balancing.

[@staticinteger]

Wow this was an incredible video! Well done! I enjoyed that greatly :3

[@possumwithacowboyhat5140]

This was an automatic sub, this video was beautifully edited and incredibly entertaining. Love the way you present your information, man!

[@RareAries323]

Shapes! And colors is all I see! Entombed, Deftones 🍄 Trip and I was literally seeing shapes and colors when I closed my eyes

[@pwndpp]

Very casual talk but very professional video. Nice! 😍

[@megyoung7947]

I am a mental health clinician and, in working with clients, particularly with mood disorders, enjoy challenging them to wear colors that flatter them but also elevate their mood. Nuances are helpful.

[@norbertomezzaucella9283]

i'm a spanish speaker, nevetheless I believe that buba/kiiki it would be something similar with lola/titi and there's a logical association between the abruptness of the letters k or t sounds and the angular points, like between the smothness of the letters b or l sounds with the curves

[@user-to2gh7sg3l]

I read the Doors of Perception as a teenager and I still use alot of those ideas in my understanding of reality, color, and the how the brain works. Primarily how the waking reality essentially filters out the vast majority of sensory information through evolution to a very limited window of what's most important for daily survival and such.

[@DanskAlex]

Wow, what a delightfull doc, sir! Thank u!

[@ugielka]

actually, you see purple because your yellow sensing cells tire out after receiving too much static input. when the screen abruptly changes it takes some time for them to regain their full yellow-sensing-capacity. because the purple-sensing-cells are momentarily stronger than the yellow, you see purple

[@nogoodkeister9251]

Great job!

[@MIKEMIKE-te2dt]

Beautiful video. It was a pleasure. Thank you!

[@Dionaea_floridensis]

Just found your channel! Really fascinating stuff!! I'd love for you to talk about the Psychoanalysts if you can ^^

[@andrzejmaranda3699]

FASCINATING, INTERESTING & VERY INFORMATIVE!

[@NickMorozov]

This is really cool video. Reminded me of The Case Against Reality by D. Hoffman - we evolved to perceive the reality for evolutionary gain, but actual reality can be something completely unimaginable.

[@Opposite271]

Sensory experience can not fail to correctly represent the external world. -Sensory experience represents whatever is its cause. -It represents not just one single thing but the entire causal chain. -The strength of the representing decreases with the causal distance from one’s sense experience. -Even Illusions, hallucinations and dreams correctly represent the external world. -Only our interpretation about what it represents can be mistaken.

[@joshuaboulton36]

​@@Opposite271do you consider the colour phi phenomenon a misrepresentation of what is happening in the external world? If not, could you define your terms more specifically?

[@Armored_frog]

Amazing video! really educational and interesting!

[@doylesaylor]

I note the speed of the talk on this video, very fast and concise work reflecting a good grasp of the content being said. What is missing though is the sense color’s purpose in language. I agree with Gibson’s approach to emphasize ecology in seeing. So this would easily apply to primates. And with primates seeing fruits we eat. However, colors emerge in languages in limited ways in a given culture reflective of color uses that grow as a culture uses color in new ways. Color words seem to depend upon uses, we see what our community deems important to see as color. So color has a consciousness component if looked at with regard to appearance of color words. So we make color words to jibe with human practices. Or said another way we ‘know’ or are conscious of color by naming the colors. So this says we ‘make’ a color by naming the color. This making knowledge by using naming words is a familiar process of making meaning that parallels purely seeing. The subject of your video on the illusionary faces we see around us or pareidolia.

[@sareeclayton9670]

Absolutely beautifully done!!

[@LardBucket_]

Interesting perspectives; thanks for sharing

[@Luk4zguy97]

One of the best videos I've seen all month

[@vendacious]

A deeper look into the perception of color. Thanks for the excellent vid!

[@Fwootgummi]

I’m coming down from a mushroom high, and maybe it’s the fungus, but I feel like I was meant to see this right now. I’m going through a really rough patch in my life and it’s so confusing. I feel really comforted by the knowledge that perception is subjective but that subjectivity affects what is objective. Somehow it gives clarity, or at least understanding that there can be no true clarity, to this position I’m in.