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Constant colors in the head

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Abstract

I defend a version of color subjectivism — that colors are sortals for certain neural events — by arguing against a sophisticated form of color objectivism and by showing how a subjectivist can legitimately explain the phenomenal fact that colors seem to be properties of external objects.

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I am very grateful to C. L. Hardin and Mohan Matthen for reading early drafts of this paper — in Hardin's case, two drafts. They both helped me to become clearer about the issues and improved the argument considerably. I am grateful to Ran Lahav and Paul Pietroski for incisive comments on more recent drafts, and to others for comments made in discussion.

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McGilvray, J.A. Constant colors in the head. Synthese 100, 197–239 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01063810

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