The phenomenology of color constancy, with both illumination-dependent and illumination-independent elements, presents a challenge to both philosophy and vision science. There is considerable evidence, both formal and informal, that there is a separate illumination-dependent aspect to color appearance in some sense of “appearance.” How to conceive of this illumination-aspect of color constancy is less clear, with at least two reasonable alternatives on the table. The empirical evidence required to discriminate between the pure perception and the sensory core plus judgment alternatives is...

The phenomenology of color constancy, with both illumination-dependent and illumination-independent elements, presents a challenge to both philosophy and vision science. There is considerable evidence, both formal and informal, that there is a separate illumination-dependent aspect to color appearance in some sense of “appearance.” How to conceive of this illumination-aspect of color constancy is less clear, with at least two reasonable alternatives on the table. The empirical evidence required to discriminate between the pure perception and the sensory core plus judgment alternatives is mostly unavailable, although there is some suggestive evidence from lightness constancy. The usual language in which these hypotheses are formulated is ambiguous, and this confuses the issues even further.