Color Quote by Wilfrid Sellars
“To put the matter in Aristotelian terminology, visual impressions are prior in the order of being to concepts pertaining to physical color, whereas the latter are prior in the order of knowing to concepts pertaining to visual impressions.”
About This Quote
Source Book: Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind, 1952
Visual impressions precede concepts of color, but concepts of color precede the knowledge of those impressions.
In simple terms: Seeing comes before naming, but naming shapes how we understand seeing.
Key Takeaway
Recognize the interplay of perception and concept formation.
Themes
philosophy
perception
epistemology
language
cognition
Mood
reflective
analytical
Type
theoretical
explanatory
When to use this quote
- art criticism
- scientific observation
- education
- design
- everyday decision making
Key Concepts
Phenomenology
conceptual analysis
ontological hierarchy
Questions to Reflect On
- How do our concepts alter what we notice?
- Can we ever separate pure perception from prior knowledge?
A Different Perspective
The claim may overstate the linearity of perception and concept formation, ignoring feedback loops.
![“[T]he categories of intentionality are nothing more nor less than the metalinguistic categories in terms of which we talk epistemically about overt speech as they appear in the framework of thoughts construed on the model of over speech.” quote by Wilfrid Sellars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/45c/wilfrid-sellars-76053_categories_t-he-categories-of-intentionality-are-no_1158855.jpg)
