Perceptual Structuralism

I use an old challenge to motivate a new view. The old challenge is due to variation in our perceptions of secondary qualities. The challenge is to say whose perceptions are accurate. The new view is about how we manage to perceive secondary qualities, and thus manage to perceive them accurately or inaccurately. I call it perceptual structuralism. I first introduce the challenge and point out drawbacks with traditional responses. I spend the rest of the paper motivating and defending a structuralist response. While I focus on color, both the challenge and the view generalize to the other secondary qualities. 1 An Old Challenge: Perceptual Variation Our perceptual experiences tell us that lemons are yellow and sour. It’s natural to infer that lemons really are yellow and sour. But perceptions vary, even among ordinary observers. Some perceive lemons as slightly greener and sweeter. This gives rise to a challenge that forces us to rethink the nature of perception and the objectivity of what we perceive. For concreteness, I’ll focus on the perceptions of two ordinary observers, Miriam and Aaron. I’ll also focus on their perceptions of a particular lemon’s color. These restrictions will make the challenge easier to understand and the responses easier to compare. But the challenge and responses are perfectly general. In the concluding section I’ll return to sourness and the other secondary qualities. Miriam and Aaron perceive the lemon differently. Miriam perceives it as unmixed, pure yellow. Aaron perceives it as greenish yellow. Who is accurately perceiving the lemon’s shade? There are four responses: neither, one, both, and indeterminate. These responses are traditionally developed: neither of them are accurately perceiving the lemon’s shade, because the lemon isn’t colored; one of them is accurately perceiving the lemon’s shade, because the lemon is either pure yellow or greenish yellow; both of them are accurately perceiving the lemon’s shade, because