Defending Dispositionalism of Color:: The Phenomenology and the Ontology of Color

Abstract

Dispositionalism of color claims that colors are dispositions to cause certain sorts of visual experiences in perceivers. Lately, this theory has been criticized as conflicting with the phenomenology of color experiences. Critics insist that our visual experiences represent colors not as dispositional properties, but as simple, monadic, intrinsic features of physical objects, and that this poses a serious threat to dispositionalism. First, I will examine four versions of this kind of objection and defend dispositionalism against them. Second, based on these considerations, I will explicate the notion of ‘certain sorts of visual experiences’ that dispositionalists refer to. More specifically, I will offer a promising view of color experiences through examining the phenomenon