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The Evolution of Color Vision Without Colors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Richard J. Hall
Richard J. Hall*
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
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Abstract

The standard adaptationist explanation of the presence of a sensory mechanism in an organism—that it detects properties useful to the organism—cannot be given for color vision. This is because colors do not exist. After arguing for this latter claim, I consider, but reject, nonadaptationist explanations. I conclude by proposing an explanation of how color vision could have adaptive value even though it does not detect properties in the environment.

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Footnotes

†

Department of Philosophy, 503 South Kedzie Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1032.

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