On Vision and Colors (originally translated as On Vision and Colours; ) is a treatiseKarl Robert Mandelkow, Bodo Morawe: Goethes Briefe (Goethe's Letters). 1. edition. Vol. 3: Briefe der Jahre 1805-1821 (Letters of the years 1805-1821). Christian Wegner publishers, Hamburg 1965, p. 639. "Entsprechend hat Goethe dann auch seiner Abhandlung 'Über das Sehn und die Farben' nur bedingt zugestimmt." ("Accordingly, Goethe then also only conditionally agreed to his treatise 'On Vision and Colors'.") by Arthur Schopenhauer that was published in May 1816 when the author was 28 years old. Schopenhauer had extensive discussions with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe about the poet's Theory of Colours of 1810, in the months around the turn of the years 1813 and 1814, and initially shared Goethe's views.Karl Robert Mandelkow, Bodo Morawe: Goethes Briefe (Goethe's Letters). 1. edition. Vol. 3: Briefe der Jahre 1805-1821 (Letters of the years 1805-1821). Christian Wegner publishers, Hamburg 1965, p. 639. "Vom November 1813 bis zum Mai 1814 sind sie in Weimar sehr häufig zusammengewesen. (...) In den Mittelpunkt der Diskussionen rückte schließlich die Goethesche Farbenlehre. Schopenhauer teilte prinzipiell die Ansichten des Dichters, wich jedoch in gewissen Einzelheiten von ihnen ab." ("From November 1813 till May 1814, they were together very often in Weimar. [...] Goethe's Theory of Colours finally became the central subject of the discussions. Schopenhauer basically shared the views of the poet, but deviated from them in certain details.") Their growing theoretical disagreements and Schopenhauer's criticisms made Goethe distance himself from his young collaborator.Cartwright, David E. (2010). Schopenhauer: a Biography. Cambridge University Press. pp. 247–265. Although Schopenhauer considered his own theory superior, he would still continue to praise Goethe's work as an important introduction to his own.Cartwright, David E. (2010). Schopenhauer: a Biography. Cambridge University Press. pp. 252 and 265.
Schopenhauer tried to demonstrate physiologically that color is "specially modified activity of the retina."On Vision and Colors, § 1 The initial basis for Schopenhauer's color theory comes from Goethe's chapter on physiological colors, which discusses three principal pairs of contrasting colors: red/green, orange/blue, and yellow/violet. This is in contrast to the customary emphasis on Newton's seven colors of the Newtonian spectrum. In accordance with Aristotle, Schopenhauer considered that colors arise by the mixture of shadowy, cloudy darkness with light. With white and black at each extreme of the scale, colors are arranged in a series according to the mathematical ratio between the proportions of light and darkness. Schopenhauer agreed with Goethe's claim that the eye tends toward a sum total that consists of a color plus its spectrum or afterimage. Schopenhauer arranged the colors so that the sum of any color and its complementary afterimage always equals unity. The complete activity of the retina produces white. When the activity of the retina is divided, the part of the retinal activity that is inactive and not stimulated into color can be seen as the ghostly complementary afterimage, which he and Goethe call a (physiological) spectrum.
History Schopenhauer met Goethe in 1808 at his mother's parties in Weimar but Goethe then mostly ignored the young and unknown student. In November 1813, Goethe congratulated Schopenhauer on his doctoral dissertation On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason which he received as a gift. Both men shared the opinion that visual representations yielded more knowledge than did concepts. In the winter of 1813/1814, Goethe personally demonstrated his color experiments to Schopenhauer and they discussed color theory. Goethe encouraged Schopenhauer to write On Vision and Colors. Schopenhauer wrote it in a few weeks while living in Dresden in 1815. After it was published, in July 1815, Goethe rejected several of Schopenhauer's conclusions, especially as to whether white is a mixture of colors. He was also disappointed that Schopenhauer considered the whole topic of color to be a minor issue. Schopenhauer wrote as though Goethe had merely gathered data while Schopenhauer provided the actual theory. A major difference between the two men was that Goethe considered color to be an objective property of light and darkness."...Goethe...was so completely a realist that he absolutely could not get it into his head that the objects as such exist only to the extent that they are projected by the perceiving subject." Schopenhauer's comment as quoted in Safranski's Schopenhauer and the Wild Years of Philosophy, Chapter 13. Schopenhauer's Kantian transcendental idealism was opposed to Goethe's realism."It is precisely the astonishing objectivity of his mind, everywhere stamping his [Goethe's] works with the mark of genius, which stood in his way where it was of value and prevented him from going back to the subject, in this case the perceiving eye itself, in order to seize here the final threads on which hangs the whole phenomenon of the world of colour. On the other hand, coming from Kant's school, I was prepared and trained for satisfying this demand in the best way." Schopenhauer, Parerga and Paralipomena, Volume II, Chapter VII, § 103. For Schopenhauer, color was subjective in that it exists totally in the spectator's retina. As such, it can be excited in various ways by external stimuli or internal bodily conditions. Light is only one kind of color stimulus.
In 1830, Schopenhauer published a revision of his color theory. The title was Theoria colorum Physiologica, eademque primaria (Fundamental physiological theory of color). It appeared in Justus Radius's Scriptores ophthalmologici minores (Minor ophthalmological writings). "This is no mere translation of the first edition," he wrote, "but differs noticeably from it in form and presentation and is also amply enriched in subject matter."On Vision and Colors, "Preface to the Second Edition," Because it was written in Latin, he believed that foreign readers would be able to appreciate its value.
An improved second edition of On Vision and Colors was published in 1854. In 1870, a third edition was published, edited by Julius Frauenstädt. In 1942, an English translation by Lt. Col. E. F. J. Payne was published in Karachi, India. This translation was republished in 1994 by Berg Publishers, Inc., edited by Professor David E. Cartwright.
Content
Preface to the second edition (the first edition had no Preface) Although this work is mainly concerned with physiology,Schopenhauer claimed that Buffon "discovered the phenomenon of physiological colours on which the whole of my theory is based...." The theory was based on Buffon's physiological phenomena and Goethe's data. Schopenhauer, Parerga and Paralipomena, Chapter VII, § 104. it is of philosophical value. In gaining knowledge of the subjective nature of color, the reader will have a more profound understanding of Kant's doctrine of the a priori, subjective, intellectual forms of all knowledge. This is in opposition to contemporary realism which simply takes objective experience as positively given. Realism doesn't consider that it is through the subjective that the objective exists. The observer's brain stands like a wall between the observing subject and the real nature of things.
Introduction Goethe performed two services: (1) he freed color theory from its reliance on Newton, and (2) he provided a systematic presentation of data for a theory of color.
Before discussing color, there are some preliminary remarks to be made regarding vision. In § 1, it is shown that the perception of externally perceived objects in space is a product of the intellect's understanding after it has been stimulated by sensation from the sense organs. These remarks are necessary in order for the reader to be convinced that colors are entirely in the eye alone and are thoroughly subjectiveThis was also taught by Descartes (Discourse on the Method, Dioptric, Ch. 1), Locke,(An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book II, Chapter VIII, § 10), Sextus Empiricus, (Outlines of Pyrrhonism, Book II, Chapter VII, . §§ 72–75)
Chapter 1—On Vision
§ 1 In the Preface to the 1st Edition of his main work, Schopenhauer wrote that he omitted "all that is to be found in the first chapter of my essay On Vision and Colors, which otherwise would have found a place here, word for word." Intuitive perception, or knowledge of an object, is intellectual, not merely sensual. The intellect's understanding regards every sense impression in the observer's body as coming from an external cause. This transition from effect to cause is knowledge of the pure understanding, not a rational conclusion or combination of concepts and judgments according to logical laws. Knowledge of an object never results from mere impression, but always from the application of the law of causality, and consequently of the understanding. The law of causality is the sole form of the understanding and the precondition of the possibility of any objective perception.
Illusion occurs when the understanding is given uncommon sensations. If the sensations become commonplace, the illusion may disappear.As, for example, when a person becomes cross-eyed due to a blow on the head and sees double. After a time, the person will see normal single images again, while the eyes remain crossed.
Intellectual understanding, or knowing the objective cause of a subjective sensation, distinguishes animals from plants. All animals are able to intuitively perceive objects.
Color is usually attributed to external bodies. However, color is actually the activity of the eye's retina. It is a sensation. The external body is perceived as the cause of the sensation of color. We say, "The body is red." In reality, though, color exists only in the retina of the eye. It is separate from the external object. Color is a mere sensation in the sense organ. The external object is perceived by the intellect's understanding as being the cause of sensations.
Chapter 2—On Colors
§ 2 Newton, Goethe, and all other color theorists began by investigating light and colored bodies in order to find the cause of color. They should have started with an investigation of the effect, the given phenomenon, the changes in the eye,cf. Itten, Johannes, The Elements of Color, p. 16, "The light waves are not in themselves colored. Color arises in the human eye and brain." we can afterward investigate the external physical and chemical causes of those sensations.
The eye's reaction to external stimulus is an activity, not a passive response. It is the activity of the retina. When the eye's retina receives a full impression of light, or when whiteness appears, it is fully active. When light is absent, or when blackness appears, the retina is inactive.
§ 3 There are gradations to the intensity or strength of the retina's activity, or reaction to external stimulus. The undivided activity of the retina is divided into stronger or weaker degrees when stimulated by pure light or whiteness. When influenced by light, the degrees are: Light — Half Shade — Darkness. When influenced by whiteness, the degrees are: White — Gray — Black. In this way, grays are seen. The intensity or energy of the retina's activity increases as more light or whiteness stimulates the eye. These gradations are made possible by the quantitative intensive divisibility of the retina's activity.
§ 4