In Chapter 25 of the novel, Sophie’s world; Albert Knox uses Red tinted glasses as a metaphor to describe the way humans are limited in their understanding of the world because the “red tint” changes our entire perception of the world. A lot of what we assimilate about the world is interpreted from our senses. For example, a tomato is red. Now find me an empiricist who can use a formula or an equation to prove otherwise. Does not seem possible correct? Birds of prey rely on their tremendous eyesight to hunt. They have a photopigment in their retina that can detect ultraviolet light in the electromagnetic spectrum. Ask a bird what colour a tomato is, and it would not say red. A cat on the other hand; will say a tomato is green. The cat’s retinas do not contain cone cells that tell the brain it is seeing the colour red. This means they see tomatoes as green. Imagine if we were in the same situation. Humans would have “green tinted retinas” in this case…
I am sure, that the reader has heard of “Roses are red, violets are blue…” I would like the reader at this point to answer the question. What is the colour red? It is likely you are dumbfounded by this. The witty ones amongst you will say “red” is a word. And right you are. Red is only a word. Ask an empiricist what the colour red is, and he’ll recite “an effect of light with a wavelength between 610 and 780 nm”. Ask a rationalist what red is, and he is likely to compare it to the colour of blood etc. The only reason we say something is red is because that is what we have been taught from a young age. “See baby Justin? This is a circle. It is the colour red” What if I had deranged parents and they told me the colour of the circle was aboo-gabah. And what if I told my other baby friends the colour of their ketchup was called aboo-gabah? We would be modern day Galileos; looked down on by society because we questioned what was thought to be common sense.
From this we can conclude, red is just a word. A word in the English language. A word that without the objects we associate with the colour red; one that is hollow and meaningless.
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It may be a word but it is a word with a meaning. If you look in an English Dictionary, it not only gives the word but also a definition to describe the word. The Concise Oxford Dictionary “Red – approaching the colour seen at least-refracted end of spectrum”. “Aboo-gabah” would not be understood in the world because it has no meaning. “Red” may just be a word but it is a word with a meaning and it is that meaning that is understood and believed in our society.
To Anna: Yes it has a meaning but only it has been assigned by humans. Think about it.
Yes this is exactly what I've been thinking about. There ARE limitations in the way we perceive things but we use instruments that can detect what we cannot perceive such as instruments to detect ultrasound and radio-waves. There ARE also limitations in how we can represent things in terms of what we can only perceive.
As for human’s choice of the word ‘red’, yes it is arbitrary in every language. Different languages use different words for it. In French, red would be called rouge. In Chinese, it would be called hong sik.
I cannot agree with your point about the word 'red' being "hollow and meaningless".
Yes, we humans are the ones who deem the word red red but it is a word and in a way, a ‘nickname’ which stands for the color.
If I went up to you and said "Oh, you need to go find Bob, he's in a RED t-shirt", you will know what I'm talking about. It is much more effortless than saying “Go find Bob, he’s wearing a shirt the color of.. erm.. that thing over there”. If the word red never existed, there will be a word as its substitute. Maybe Aboo-gabah. This is where different languages kick in. ‘Red’ is not ‘red’ in French. But still, we will associate red/rouge… with the color because we are taught that, because the majority calls it that. If you were taught something else, not as many people will understand you. In the end, it all comes back to communication. Languages exist so we can communicate at ease, speaking instead of grunting and pointing.
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