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Vivian Mizrahi

2 papers in the library · publishing 2026

Papers

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Seeing Colors Without Seeing Light

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research July 9, 2026 Vivian Mizrahi

ABSTRACT This article defends a provocative claim: Light itself is not seen. Proposed by Aristotle, Alhazen, and recently Hilbert and Kalderon, this view regards light as the medium of sight rather than its object. Unlike reflectance physicalism or color relationalism, this medium theory maintains that colors are entirely independent of light, which merely provides conditions for their...

The nature of the chemical senses

Philosophy and the Mind Sciences May 27, 2026 Vivian Mizrahi

This paper defends a stuff theory of the chemical senses: smell and taste, unlike vision, touch, and hearing, are directly oriented toward stuffs rather than individual objects. I first argue that stuff constitutes an irreducible ontological category — distinct from both individuals and universals. I then contend, drawing on recent anti-reductionist work in the philosophy of chemistry, that...