The Colour Blue
This puzzle comes from a book called, ‘Just Think’, by Philip West.
Each puzzle in the book starts with an argument between twins, Philip and Phoebe. They rarely agree on anything and always believe themselves to be correct.
From learning about the 4Cs, we know to be caring when our opinions differ. Read or listen to their argument, think about their disagreement, and make up your own mind.
Philip and Phoebe, the terrible twins, were having one of their regular arguments the other day. It all started when they disagreed about the colour of the sky out of the window.
‘Blue. The sky’s blue. Everyone knows that, silly,’ pronounced Philip.
‘Well, it looks more like a greeny-grey to me,’ responded Phoebe. ‘The sky isn’t always blue you know.’
‘That’s because you’re not seeing it properly,’ said Philip in his maddeningly superior way. ‘It really is blue whether it looks like it or not.’
‘But that is wrong!’ protested Phoebe. ‘The colour is what you see , not something that’s “really there”. If the sky looks greeny-grey to me, then it’s greeny-grey, surely? How can it be “really” blue?’
‘Oh, that’s because you don’t understand about science,’ responded Philip airily. ‘Scientists say that “blue” is light with a wavelength of 0.000465 millimetres. So, if that light doesn’t look blue to you, you’re just wrong.’
- Is “blue” really out there in the world, whether it looks blue to you or not? Or is something only “blue” if it looks blue to you?
- How would you explain “blue” to a person who was born blind and had never seen anything at all?
- Some people prefer blue more than red, and vice versa. Is this because they are seeing the colours differently?
