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Wittgenstein's Colour Octahedron and Kuki's Rectangular Prism of Taste

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Wittgenstein's Colour Octahedron and Kuki's Rectangular Prism of Taste 2021-4132-AJHA-HUM – 01 MAR 2021 1 The Role of Geometrical Representations – 2 Wittgenstein’s Colour Octahedron and Kuki’s Rectangular 3 Prism of Taste 4 5 In his writings Philosophical Remarks, the Austrian-British Philosopher Ludwig 6 Wittgenstein (1989-1951) draws an octahedron with the words of pure colours such 7 as ‘white’, ‘red’ and ‘blue’ at the corner and argues: ‚The colour octahedron is 8 grammar, since it says that you can speak of a reddish blue but not of a reddish 9 green, etc‛ (Wittgenstein, L. 1980, §39). He uses the word ‚grammar‛ in such a 10 specific way that the grammar or grammatical rules describe the meanings of 11 words/expressions, in other words, how we use them in our language. Accordingly, 12 the colour octahedron can also be taken to represent grammatical rules about how we 13 apply words of colour, e.g., that we can call a certain colour ‚reddish-blue‛, but not 14 ‚reddish-green‛. In a different context, the Japanese philosopher Shūzō Kuki (1988- 15 1941) explores in his work The Structure of Iki what the Japanese word ‚iki‛ means. 16 This word is often translated as ‚chic‛ or ‚stylistic‛ in English, but Kuki holds that 17 it is an aesthetic Japanese concept that cannot be translated one-to-one, but 18 encompasses three aspects: ‘coquetry’, ‘pride and honour’ and ‘resignation’. To 19 explain the meanings of the word ‚iki‛ and other related words all of which Kuki 20 calls ‚tastes‛, he introduces a rectangular prism as a geometrical representation 21 similar to Wittgenstein’s colour octahedron. In this paper, I argue that the 22 rectangular prism does not solely explain how the modes of Japanese tastes are 23 related to each other, but has a grammatical character. On this score, I suggest that 24 one can also regard this rectangular prism as a description of the grammatical rules 25 of the Japanese language. By appeal to the arguments of both philosophers and in 26 comparison with them, I will not only clarify what they claim by geometrical 27 representations but also examine what role this kind of representation plays as an 28 explanation of the grammar of our language. 29 30 Keywords: grammar, colour octahedron, rectangular prism, Shūzō Kuki, 31 Wittgenstein 32 33 34 Introduction 35 36 We have several colour systems. The most common one is the so-called 37 Natural Colour Model, which has three pairs of elementary colours (white- 38 black, green-red and yellow-blue). Not only do different languages have 39 different words which are supposed to refer to the same colour – e.g. ‚blue‛ 40 in English, ‚blau‛ in German, ‚bleu‛ in French, ‚青‛ (‚ao‛) in Japanese. For 41 several purposes like colour printing or the sensing display of images in 42 electronic systems, we also employ different colour systems such as the CMY 43 Colour Model consisting of cyan, magenta and yellow as its primary colours 44 and the RGB Colour Model based on red, green and blue. Apart from these 45 models, some ethnic groups employ their own colour systems that conform to 1 2021-4132-AJHA-HUM – 28 FEB 2021 1 their forms of life: The Eskimos use six different words referring to the word 2 ‚grey‛ in the Natural Colour Model; the indigenous people of lowland 3 Bolivia, the Tsimané, have fewer terms for colours than Bolivian-Spanish and 4 English speakers. All these systems have different ways of applying colour 5 words. 6 As is the case in colour systems, we can also imagine that there are 7 different systems in different languages that describe how the character, the 8 value, the taste of the people is. Such descriptions can also be taken to 9 correspond to their forms of life. 10 Ludwig Wittgenstein and Shūzō Kuki are the philosophers who lived in 11 the same period – in 1989-1951 and 1988-1941 respectively – in different 12 countries and conduct their investigations on how we use words in our 13 languages. Wittgenstein deals with our colour system whereas Kuki is 14 concerned with the system of the Japanese ‚tastes‛, which is to be seen in the 15 following discussion. In an attempt to clarify our use of words, both 16 philosophers bring geometrical representations into play. To what extent can 17 they, however, serve to make our use of words clear? 18 19 20 Goal and Method 21 22 This paper aims at shedding light upon what role geometrical 23 representations play to show how our language system operates. For this 24 purpose, I consider the investigations of Wittgenstein and Kuki and compare 25 their explanations on geometrical representations. Interestingly enough, both 26 explanations have certain commonalities as well as the same kind of 27 shortcomings although there seems to have been neither correspondence nor 28 link between both philosophers. 29 This paper has the following structure. In the first part of the discussion, 30 I enter into what Wittgenstein says of the use of colour words in our colour 31 system and the colour octahedron, which he introduces as a geometrical 32 representation of it. His explanation also embraces some controversial 33 remarks. I will have a short glance at some interpretations in the secondary 34 literature although it is here not my intension to solve the problem and offer a 35 new satisfactory interpretation. In the second part, I consider the rectangular 36 prism, which Kuki also introduces as a geometrical representation of how one 37 uses words standing for the ‚tastes‛ characteristic of the Japanese. Finally, I 38 compare the explanations of both philosophers to point out the similarities of 39 them and clarify to what extent geometrical representations can serve to show 40 how we use words in our language systems. 41 42 43 2 2021-4132-AJHA-HUM – 28 FEB 2021 1 Discussion 2 3 Wittgenstein 4 5 What is the colour octahedron? 6 7 Especially in his so-called middle period, Wittgenstein discusses the 8 colour octahedron at several places. According to Tina Wilde and Josef G.F. 9 Rothhaupt, ‚Wittgenstein adapts the model of the colour-octahedron from 10 Höfler‚ (Wilde, T. 2002, p.284). The person in question is the Austrian 11 philosopher and educationalist, Alois Höfler, and he attempts to explain 12 coloured sight in relation to the psychological effect of colours. It is to note 13 that although Wilde refers to the picture drawn in Wittgenstein’s Philosophical 14 Remarks, it is actually not what he means by ‚colour octahedron‛. Now I give 15 its three examples, which can be found in his other works: 16 Wittgenstein‘s Wittgenstein, L. 2016, Wittgenstein, L. 1980, handwriting: p.16 p.8 Rothhaupt, J.G.F. 1996, p.243 17 Pictures of the Colour Octahedron 18 19 As the editors of Wittgenstein’s Cambridge lectures from 1930-33, where 20 the second picture stands, point it out and one can clearly see it from the third 21 picture, what Wittgenstein means by ‚the colour octahedron‛ can be 22 described as follows: 23 24 The colour octahedron has one of the ‘pure colours’ (red, blue, green, 25 yellow, white, and black) at each corner, with white at the top and black 26 at the bottom. [Wittgenstein, L. 2016, p.16, fn.13] 27 28 Hence, this colour octahedron can be said to represent a certain kind of 29 relationship between some colour words shown in a geometrical figure. One 3 2021-4132-AJHA-HUM – 28 FEB 2021 1 can, e.g., say that the mixed colour ‘orange’ stands between the pure colours 2 red and yellow. What does Wittgenstein, however, aim at by this colour 3 octahedron? 4 5 The Colour Octahedron as a representation of the Nature of Colour 6 7 Let’s see the following passages about Wittgenstein’s notion of the colour 8 octahedron. He writes: 9 10 This [= the colour octahedron] is really a part of grammar, not of 11 psychology. ‘People under these circumstances have red after-images’ is 12 psychology. [Wittgenstein, L. 2016, pp.16f.; cf. Wittgenstein, L. 1980, p.8.] 13 14 An octahedron with the pure colours at the corner-points e.g. provides a 15 rough representation of colour-space, and this is a grammatical 16 representation, not a psychological one. On the other hand, to say that in 17 such and such circumstances you can see a red after-image (say) is a 18 matter of psychology. (This may, or may not, be the case--the other is a 19 priori; we can establish the one by experiment but not the other.). 20 [Wittgenstein, L. 1975, §1; Wittgenstein, L. 2005, p.322] 21 22 Unlike Höfler, Wittgenstein argues that the representation of colour- 23 space is not only rough but also not a psychological one. Although he hints at 24 what a matter of psychology concerning colour words is like, I here focus on 25 the point especially relevant for the present discussion: The representation 26 via the colour octahedron meant by Wittgenstein has an a priori character. In 27 other words, one has not discovered this representation by a posteriori, 28 empirical investigations. Wittgenstein’s colour octahedron is not a result of 29 some psychological experiments, e.g., of colour images people can have under 30 certain circumstances. 31 Wittgenstein then refers to the investigations of Johann Wolfgang von 32 Goethe about colour concepts to discuss differences between results of 33 experimental investigations and ‚the nature of colour‛. In Remarks of Colour, 34 he argues: 35 36 Someone who agrees with Goethe believes that Goethe correctly 37 recognized the nature of colour.
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