Observations that he himself had made persuaded Goethe to reject Newton's theory of light and to put forward an alternative theory of the colour phenomena seen with a prism. Duck has argued that Goethe's attack on Newton's theory rested on valid experimental observations that appeared to present a difficulty for Newton's theory but to support his own views on colour. Duck has also proposed that these observations may be accounted for as an instance of the Bezold–Brücke phenomenon. It is argued here that this explanation is invalid and that two other features of colour processing can explain Goethe's observations.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BoyntonR M, 1979Human Color Vision (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston)
2.
CornsweetT N, 1970Visual Perception (New York: Academic Press)
3.
DuckM, 1987“The Bezold – Brücke phenomenon and Goethe's rejection of Newton's Opticks”American Journal of Physics55793–796
4.
DuckM, 1988“Newton and Goethe on colour: Physical and physiological considerations”Annals of Science45507–519
5.
von GoetheJ W, 1810/1970Zur Farbenlehre; translation into English by EastlakeC L, (1840). Theory of Colours (1970, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press)
6.
HurvichL MJamesonD, 1957“An opponent-process theory of color vision”Psychological Review64384–404
7.
NewtonI, 1730/1952Opticks, or, a treatise of the reflexions, refractions, inflexions and colours of light (4th edition 1730, London: W Innys; reprinted 1952, New York: Dover)
8.
WassermanG S, 1978Color Vision: An Historical IntroductionNew York, Wiley)
9.
WillmerE NWrightW D, 1945“Colour sensitivity of the fovea centralis”Nature (London)156119–121
