Cosmology And The Demise Of Color Realism. Supplement To The 2° Meeting On Cultural Astronomy

Scientific realism is a bulwark of modern metaphysics, especially entity realism. Scientists expect there to be real objects in nature that may be enumerated and measured using objective properties. (Rest massis an example). Is color one of these properties? The question, “What is the color of the Universe?” unexpectedly leads to the conclusion that it is not. Astronomers use the concept of color at their ontological peril.Thomas Hockey is Professor of Astronomy at Iowa University, Department of Earth Science. He studied at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and got a Ph.D. Interdisciplinary (Astronomy, History & Philosophy) in 1988 at New Mexico State University. His aim is studing the history of planetary astronomy in light of the modern search for planets orbiting other stars as well as the astronomy of solar eclipsesand comets, and the archeoastronomy of pre–historic peoples.