3 ms·

How do we differentiate between yellow and orange? The spectrum of colors is a continuum. Is the difference between yellow and orange not real?

• mcphage 2y ago
  > Is the difference between yellow and orange not real? "Yellow" and "Orange" are words, not facts about the universe. They correspond (loosely) to physical observations, at least when it comes to perceived colors (there are plenty of optical illusions which reveal the vast gulf between 'the color a thing is' and 'the color we perceive'). So I don't really know what you mean by "real" here, but is it an objective fact? No.
  • z7 2y ago
    Right, the difference between what we call "yellow" and "orange" corresponds to objective physical properties. I could reject the way we have decided to group these differences, but the existence of different wavelengths seems to be a fact about the universe.
    • mcphage 2y ago
      The different wavelengths is a fact about the universe, but there is nothing about the wavelengths themselves that makes one “yellow” and one “orange”. That’s all added by us culturally.
  • slibhb 2y ago
    > "Yellow" and "Orange" are words, not facts about the universe. That's a philosophical position called nominalism. You can be a nominalist but other people disagree.