Spring 2020 Schedule (UPDATED)

All dates given below are subject to change.

Important Dates

6 Feb Presentation Sign-Up Deadline
27 Feb Paper 1 Topics Posted
9 Apr Paper 1 Due
7 May Paper 2 Topics Posted
28 May Paper 2/Final Paper Due

Schedule of Topics & Readings

28 & 30 Jan 0.1 Course Introduction: the Philosophical Problems of Color
Readings Chirimuuta, Outside Color Ch. 1
Unit 1 Issues in Color Science
4 & 6 Feb 1.1 Basics of Color Vision
Readings Byrne & Hilbert, “The Science of Color and Color Vision”
Hardin, Color for Philosophers Ch. 1
11 & 13 Feb 1.2 Functions of Human Color Perception
Readings Johnson & Mullen, “Color in the Cortex”
18 & 20 Feb 1.3 Color Perception in Nonhuman Animals
Matthen, “Novel Colours in Animal Perception”
Brown, “Colour Manipulation and Comparative Colour”
Unit 2 Color Irrealism & Subjectivism
25 & 27 Feb 2.1 An Error Theory of Color Experience
Readings Boghossian & Velleman, “Colour as a Secondary Quality”
3 & 5 Mar 2.2 What Do We Want From a Theory of Color?
Readings Johnston, “How to Speak of the Colors”
10 & 12 Mar 2.3 Critiques of Dispositionalism
Readings Byrne & Hilbert, “Are Colors Secondary Qualities?”
16–27 Mar Classes Cancelled Due to COVID-19
2 Mar 2.4 “Realism Enough”: Color Relationalism
Readings Chirimuuta & Kingdom, “The Uses of Colour Vision”
9 Apr 2.5 Color Relationalism Cont’d
Readings Gupta, “M. Chirimuuta’s Adverbialism about Color”
Unit 3 Color Objectivism
16 Apr 3.1 Colors as Physical Properties
Readings Byrne & Hilbert, “Objectivist Reductionism”
3.2 Colors as Physical Properties, Cont’d
23 Apr Readings Allen, “Colour Physicalism, Naïve Realism, and the Argument from Structure”
30 Apr 3.3 Primitivism: the “Simple View” of Color
Readings Campbell, “Manipulating Colour: Pounding an Almond”
7 May 3.4 Primitivism Cont’d
Readings Gert, “An Unmysterious Color Primitivism”
Unit 4 Conclusions
14 May 4.1 Color Ontology and the Philosophy of Mind
Readings Byrne, “Color and the Mind-Body Problem”