how do you know my brown is your brown?

Question

how do you know what you define is the same as mine but completely different in every way, it' just a weird understanding that every single one of us have, how do you know???

Answer 1

Great question! More important than any of our answers, try to remember this question; it will explain a great deal of what is seen & heard through life.

Humans proceed with the basic assumption that "What I see is what's there, so everyone else must see it too." With some practice this confused notion can be unlearned. What replaces it is more something like "What I saw looked like this to me...I wonder what, if anything, anyone else saw?"

This goes a long way to explaining some of the insane things we see & hear in the news & come out of the mouths of people we have known for years!

Keep Looking ! Keep Listening! Good Luck!

;-)

Answer 2

I'm not sure if we will ever know, but if we agree that this colour (whatever colour that maybe) is the same, then does it really matter?

If my blue is your brown it wouldn't matter just as long as we agree we see the same.

If people applied this thinking to how they view the world, then the world would be a much more peaceful place to live.

Instead of people insisting others see the world the same way they do, and rather just looked for the things that people see the same as they do then the world would be a better place to live. Because only if people agree, then they
can live in peace.

Answer 3

My answer from another question like this one:

Colors themselves are defined by wavelengths of light and are thus exactly the same for different people, but our perception or "experience" of different colors could very well be different. As evidenece of this, check out synaesthesia, which is what happens when a person ascribes things from one sense with another (e.g. "this tastes blue" or "this note sounds yellow") or the effects of psychadelic mushrooms on the user. These demonstrate that different people, or the same person under different circumstances, can experience colors in different ways.

Your question is very interesting, as it is a gateway into trying to figure out the human condition. There is a quote in a film by Jean-luc Godard - "Two or three things I know about her" asking the same question, something like "What if blue was called green?" - namely that we just ascribed the names "blue" and "green" to our experience of each color, even though each individual person's experience can be very different.

The painter Miro also dealt with our subjective experiences of color by painting huge canvases with just a single color, in order to evoke our "blue" or "orange" response.

Answer 4

If colors looked different to different people, then it would be impossible to have the "color blindess test" were you look at a picture with colored dots that conceal a number of letter. You can only see that object if you see the colors correctly. If everyone show colors differently, the test would not work and would never have been developed. So people (unless they are color blind) must all see colors the same.

Answer 5

Since we all see colors with different meanings to us personally, I don't see how "my" brown could be "your" brown unless we share similar character traits.

Confused?

I am.

Answer 6

I understand exactly what you're saying. I've pondered this one myself. Don't know the answer, but it is a pretty deep question....

Answer 7

i have wondered the exact same thing, like does brown look the same to you as it does to me?

Answer 8

omg yes! thank you! somebody thinks about the same things as me! what if we both see blue, but what I call blue is different from what you call blue? what if my dark is your light?

Answer 9

If we both agree than it is considered.

Answer 10

what?