The Specifics of Colours. The Colour Debate from a Phenomenological Point of View.

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Lambert Wiesing
• Subject Area: Theoretical Philosophy
• Term: from 2017 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 389654859

The argument between colour-objectivists and colour-subjectivists about what colours actually are has - for decades now - repeatedly ended in a stalemate or standstill. Against this background the project ,,The Specifics of Colours'' on the one hand aims at explaining whereby the aforementioned stalemate situation came about. On the other hand the project employs a phenomenological approach in order to show that colours can only be analyzed taking both aspects into consideration, i.e. the colour-objectivist as well as the colour-subjectivist insights. In the first part of the project the main reason for the stalemate or standstill will be discussed: colour-objectivists as well as colour-subjectivists implicitly rely on basic assumptions of the opposite position when justifying their line of argument, but without explicitly indicating it. In the second part we suggest a phenomenological 'dissolution' and 'solution' of the described standstill: assuming a meta-perspective the phenomenological approach shows why a true-false decision favoring one position is impossible within the colour debate. Moreover, it proves the dialectic of colour-objectivism and colour-subjectivism to be an inherent part of the colour phenomenon.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. Christoph Demmerling; Professor Dr. Magnus Schlette