Ontological Study on the Color According to Islamic Philosophical Tradition

The majority of Muslim philosophers assumed certainly the objective existence of color and they did not present any philosophical analysis regarding its very nature and other problems related to it. Therefore, it seems necessary that the past philosophers’ views about “the ontology of color” should be reviewed. The present research can resemble to other works in some aspects, but the main difference is put on the style of consideration and framework for the ontological study on color among most important Muslim philosophers regarding the following questions “Does color exist?” and if the answer is positive, whether it is objective or subjective? Or is it possible for color to be both objective and subjective? Muslim Philosophers’ views can be categorized in two groups: First; Objectivists. Second; Non-Objectivists. Evaluating these two views leads certainly to, at least, the conclusion that it is impossible to deny the perception of color by the person who perceives the color. Therefore, the question of “Does color exist?” by those who have colorful perception is nonsense, hence only those who have no perception of color are justified to ask: “Does color exist?” After this introduction we conclude that the existence of color (whether objective and external or subjective and internal) is the obvious presupposition of its analysis and we can only discuss its states and kind of existence. On the other hand, accepting color to be objective or subjective or both, requires preconditions which themselves need conditions of creating new questions which itself can be considered as the innovation of this study.