While it is clearly the case that we may or may not know precisely what color something is depending upon different eyes percieving it, it is possible to know that it cannot be both one thing as well as its opposite (green and red being complimentary colors, the opposite ends of the color wheel etc.)
Objects simultaneously appear to be different colours all the time... our focused visual field captures a certain area, which can easily vary in colour. The fact that our rational minds tend to reconstruct memories in simpler terms shouldn't lead us to think we can't see two different colours at once... we are constantly seeing different colours. How could you read the text on this page if you couldn't instantly distinguish the black from the white?
As for the second proposition, no, it doesn't seem like humans can see things outside the visual spectrum, and if you define the spectrum for any given organism as "what that organism can see", then it'll always be true. But as mentioned above, it's a tautology, and is certainly false if only restricted to the human visual spectrum.
it's physically impossible to see a reddish green or a yellowish blue. this is what's called the opponent process theory of color vision. the reason for this is that one type of neuron is responsible for our perception of both red and green, and those perceptions correlate with the neuron being either in an excitaroy state or an inhibitory state.
it's easy enough too see. stare at a red object for awhile and then look at a white piece of paper.
Right, a single neuron can't be in both states at the same time. It also goes without saying that a single photoreceptor in our eyes can't see more than one colour at a time. But we have hundreds of millions of each operating at any given time... obviously they aren't all in the same state/recieving the same information.
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Yes, but only with a lot of stipulations; not really; no.
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2. yes
3. yes
While it is clearly the case that we may or may not know precisely what color something is depending upon different eyes percieving it, it is possible to know that it cannot be both one thing as well as its opposite (green and red being complimentary colors, the opposite ends of the color wheel etc.)
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Objects simultaneously appear to be different colours all the time... our focused visual field captures a certain area, which can easily vary in colour. The fact that our rational minds tend to reconstruct memories in simpler terms shouldn't lead us to think we can't see two different colours at once... we are constantly seeing different colours. How could you read the text on this page if you couldn't instantly distinguish the black from the white?
As for the second proposition, no, it doesn't seem like humans can see things outside the visual spectrum, and if you define the spectrum for any given organism as "what that organism can see", then it'll always be true. But as mentioned above, it's a tautology, and is certainly false if only restricted to the human visual spectrum.
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it's easy enough too see. stare at a red object for awhile and then look at a white piece of paper.
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