ostensive - 02/06/09 08:37 AM
ostensive
["This pink (shade) is more like this vermillion than it is like this black".
What were the definitions of "pink", "vermillion "and the rest?
They had none. The colors could be recognized only by looking,
so that their definitions were classified as ostensive, and from such nothing logically followed".]
(from: The First and the Last, Isaiah Berlin - chapter: verificationism)
Set against the definiton ( Bartleby) of PINK :
"Any of a group of colors reddish in hue, of medium to high lightness, and of low to moderate saturation."
For REDDISH they have:
"Mixed or tinged with red; somewhat red."
Then for RED:
1a. The hue of the long-wave end of the visible spectrum, evoked in the human observer by radiant energy with wavelengths of approximately 630 to 750 nanometers; any of a group of colors that may vary in lightness and saturation and whose hue resembles that of blood ; one of the additive or light primaries; one of the psychological primary hues.
b. A pigment or dye having a red hue. c. Something that has a red hue.
Many words but do they really tell anything useful about the color red?
I propose it here because the quoted part from the book made me suppose that there must be many defintions that on closer look could be classified as ostensive.( depending on the way you sense, see or hear it?)
["This pink (shade) is more like this vermillion than it is like this black".
What were the definitions of "pink", "vermillion "and the rest?
They had none. The colors could be recognized only by looking,
so that their definitions were classified as ostensive, and from such nothing logically followed".]
(from: The First and the Last, Isaiah Berlin - chapter: verificationism)
Set against the definiton ( Bartleby) of PINK :
"Any of a group of colors reddish in hue, of medium to high lightness, and of low to moderate saturation."
For REDDISH they have:
"Mixed or tinged with red; somewhat red."
Then for RED:
1a. The hue of the long-wave end of the visible spectrum, evoked in the human observer by radiant energy with wavelengths of approximately 630 to 750 nanometers; any of a group of colors that may vary in lightness and saturation and whose hue resembles that of blood ; one of the additive or light primaries; one of the psychological primary hues.
b. A pigment or dye having a red hue. c. Something that has a red hue.
Many words but do they really tell anything useful about the color red?
I propose it here because the quoted part from the book made me suppose that there must be many defintions that on closer look could be classified as ostensive.( depending on the way you sense, see or hear it?)