The Quest for Reality Subjectivism and the Metaphysics of Colour

We say "the grass is green" or "lemons are yellow" to state what everyone knows. But are the things we see around us really colored, or do they only look that way because of the effects of light rays on our eyes and brains? Is color somehow "unreal" or "subjective" and dependent on our human
perceptions and the conditions under which we see things?
Distinguished scholar Barry Stroud investigates these and related questions in The Quest for Reality. In this long-awaited book, he examines what a person would have to do and believe in order to reach the conclusion that everyone's perceptions and beliefs about the color of things are "illusions"
and do not accurately represent the way things are in the world as it is independently of us. Arguing that no such conclusion could be consistently reached, Stroud finds that the conditions of a successful unmasking of color cannot all be fulfilled. The discussion extends beyond color to present a
serious challenge to many other philosophical attempts to discover the way things really are. A model of subtle, elegant, and rigorous philosophical writing, this study will attract a wide audience from all areas of philosophy.

Chapter 1. - Introduction: The Philosophical Project
Chapter 2. - The Philosophical Conception of an Independent Reality
Chapter 3. - The Idea of Physical Reality
Chapter 4. - Unmasking Explanation and the "Unreality" of Colour
Chapter 5. - Perception, Predication, and Belief
Chapter 6. - Perceptions of Colour and the Colour of Things
Chapter 7. - Perception, Judgement, and Error
Chapter 8. - Discomforts and Distortions of Metaphysical Theory
Chapter 9. - Engagement, Invulnerability, and Dissatisfaction
Chapter 10 - Morals

Barry Stroud is Mills Professor of Metaphysics and Epistemology at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Hume (1977) and The Significance of Philosophical Scepticism (1984).