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The inverted spectrum is the hypothetical concept, pertaining to the philosophy of color, of two people sharing their
color Color (or colour in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though co ...
vocabulary and discriminations, although the colors one sees—that person's
qualia In philosophy of mind, qualia (; singular: quale ) are defined as instances of subjective, conscious experience. The term ''qualia'' derives from the Latin neuter plural form (''qualia'') of the Latin adjective '' quālis'' () meaning "of what ...
—are systematically different from the colors the other person sees.


Overview

The concept dates back to
John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 28 October 1704 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thi ...
. It invites us to imagine two individuals who perceive colors differently: where one person sees red, the other sees green, and vice versa. Despite this difference in their subjective experiences, they behave and communicate as if their perceptions are the same, and no physical or behavioral test can reveal the inversion. Critics of functionalism, and of
physicalism In philosophy, physicalism is the view that "everything is physical", that there is "nothing over and above" the physical, or that everything supervenience, supervenes on the physical. It is opposed to idealism, according to which the world arises ...
more broadly, argue that if we can imagine this happening without contradiction, it follows that we are imagining a change in a property that determines the way things look to us, but that has no physical basis. In more detail: #Metaphysical identity holds of necessity # If something is possibly false, it is not necessary #It is conceivable that qualia could have a different relationship to physical brain-states #If it is conceivable, then it is possible #Since it is possible for qualia to have a different relationship with physical brain-states, they cannot be identical to brain states (by 1). #Therefore, qualia are non-physical. The argument suggests that if the inverted spectrum is conceivable, then qualia exist and are non-physical. Some philosophers question the validity of this argument, noting that it involves assumptions about conceivability and possibility. C. L. Hardin criticizes the idea that an inverted spectrum would be undetectable on scientific grounds: Paul Churchland using the Hurvich–Jameson (H–J) opponent process criticizes the inverted spectrum on scientific grounds: In some cases, the inverted spectrum scenario may be possible, particularly in a simulated environment. For example, if a world is simulated on a computer and observed through the eyes of one of the characters, it is conceivable that the spectrum of colors could be inverted from the observer's perspective. This could be achieved by making small changes to the code governing how colors are displayed, such that what was previously shown as green might now appear as red, without altering the underlying simulated physics. However, this addresses only the display of colors, not the qualia of the virtual character, if such an agent were capable of having qualia. It is unclear whether such examples from simulations provide evidence for the possibility of inverted spectra in ordinary life. In his book '' I Am a Strange Loop'',
Douglas Hofstadter Douglas Richard Hofstadter (born 15 February 1945) is an American cognitive and computer scientist whose research includes concepts such as the sense of self in relation to the external world, consciousness, analogy-making, Strange loop, strange ...
argues that the inverted spectrum argument entails a form of solipsism in which people can have no idea about what goes on in the minds of others—contrary to the central theme of his work. He presents several variants to demonstrate the absurdity of this idea: the "inverted
political spectrum A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different Politics, political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more Geometry, geometric Coordinate axis, axes that represent independent political ...
", in which one person's concept of
liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...
is identical to another's concept of
imprisonment Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...
; an inverted "sonic spectrum" in which low
musical note In music, notes are distinct and isolatable sounds that act as the most basic building blocks for nearly all of music. This musical analysis#Discretization, discretization facilitates performance, comprehension, and musical analysis, analysis. No ...
s sound like "high" ones and vice versa (which he says is impossible because low sounds can be felt physically as vibrations); and a version in which random, complex
qualia In philosophy of mind, qualia (; singular: quale ) are defined as instances of subjective, conscious experience. The term ''qualia'' derives from the Latin neuter plural form (''qualia'') of the Latin adjective '' quālis'' () meaning "of what ...
such as riding a roller coaster or opening presents are reversed, so that everyone perceives the world in radically different, unknowable ways. Inverted spectrum arguments have applications to behavioralism,
physicalism In philosophy, physicalism is the view that "everything is physical", that there is "nothing over and above" the physical, or that everything supervenience, supervenes on the physical. It is opposed to idealism, according to which the world arises ...
,
representationalism In the philosophy of perception and philosophy of mind, direct or naïve realism, as opposed to indirect or representational realism, are differing models that describe the nature of conscious experiences.Lehar, Steve. (2000)The Function of Con ...
, functionalism,
skepticism Skepticism ( US) or scepticism ( UK) is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...
and the hard problem of consciousness.


See also

*
Dualism (philosophy of mind) Dualism most commonly refers to: * Mind–body dualism, a philosophical view which holds that mental phenomena are, at least in certain respects, not physical phenomena, or that the mind and the body are distinct and separable from one another * ...
* Functionalism *
Further facts In philosophy, further facts are facts that do not logical consequence, follow logically from the physical facts of the world. Reductionism, Reductionists who argue that at bottom there is nothing more than the physical facts thus argue against th ...
* Mary's room *
Ontological argument In the philosophy of religion, an ontological argument is a deductive philosophical argument, made from an ontological basis, that is advanced in support of the existence of God. Such arguments tend to refer to the state of being or existing. ...
* Philosophical zombies * Philosophy of color *
Philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of the mind and its relation to the Body (biology), body and the Reality, external world. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a ...
*
Philosophy of perception The philosophy of perception is concerned with the nature of Perception, perceptual experience and the status of sense data, perceptual data, in particular how they relate to beliefs about, or knowledge of, the world.cf. http://plato.stanford.ed ...
*
Physicalism In philosophy, physicalism is the view that "everything is physical", that there is "nothing over and above" the physical, or that everything supervenience, supervenes on the physical. It is opposed to idealism, according to which the world arises ...
*
Qualia In philosophy of mind, qualia (; singular: quale ) are defined as instances of subjective, conscious experience. The term ''qualia'' derives from the Latin neuter plural form (''qualia'') of the Latin adjective '' quālis'' () meaning "of what ...
* Subjective character of experience * The map is not the territory


Notes


External links


Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inverted Spectrum Color Thought experiments in philosophy Philosophy of perception