How would you describe the color yellow to a blind man?

Question

Is it possible?

Answer 1

You would describe colors to the blind by aligning them with other senses. Thus, white might be how snow feels. Red might be the taste of Tabasco sauce. Blue could be the smell of the ocean. Perhaps yellow would be the feeling of sunlight, and the scent of sunflowers?

DPL: Thanks for the compliment!!

Answer 2

Describe The Color Yellow

Answer 3

Possible? It has already been done. Anne Sullivan proved it and did it with Helen Keller. Unless, Anne Sullivan was a fake, which I strongly doubt that.

With that in mind, describing the color yellow to a blind man would not be an easy task. Letting him "feel" the color yellow through his senses would be a better way to describe what yellow actually is.

Answer 4

I don't think you can, at least in the sense of what it looks like.

Colors are among the most difficult things to describe. Colors tend to be described in two ways.

The first way is to say it is the color of something you are familiar with. This is of no help to a blind man.

The second way is a scientific definition--that the color is an effect of light with some particular wavelength. The blind man could understand this definition about as well as we can, but without the first definition it isn't very satisfying.

Here are examples of how the dictionary defines the colors of yellow and blue.

yellow: a color like that of egg yolk, ripe lemons, etc.; the primary color between green and orange in the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 570 and 590 nm.

blue: the pure color of a clear sky; the primary color between green and violet in the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 450 and 500 nm.

Answer 5

If someone is totally blind, from birth, there is no way to describe yellow or any other color. If, however, they are partially sighted (as most blind people are) or have lost their vision after being sighted, it would be a simple matter to describe the color yellow.

Answer 6

No, absolutely not. By it's very definition, a 'sensation' is something that can ONLY be described using that sensation. Notice how you use other foods to describe a taste, or when describing what something looks like, you simply use other things it looks like. If someone has no clue what 'sight' is because they were born without it, you can never describe it to them.

IN OTHER WORDS, in order to describe a color to a blind man, you would HAVE to use a different sense, and you cannot describe a sense using different sense.

Answer 7

It has been many years since I read Helen Keller, but I vaguely remember her describing yellow as the taste of a butterscotch candy. It is also the feel of the sun.

Answer 8

I'm just going to make a comment to Hauntedfox: I think your answer helped anybody that ever wondered the same. What a great lesson! Of course you would use their other senses - why didn't I think of that? (You deserve the 10 points!)

Answer 9

i would tell him to look up at the sun and thats a little like it.you know when you have your eyes closed and then something shiny gets in your face while their closed it makes sum weird color...or im just crazy

Answer 10

have him face the sun