"Although I believe the table is 'really' of the same color all over, the parts that reflect the light look much brighter than the other parts, and some parts look white because of reflected light. I know that, if I move, the parts that reflect the light will be different, so that the apparent distribution of colors on the table will change. It follows that if several people are looking at the table at the same moment, no two of them will see exactly the same distribution of colors, because no two of them can see it from exactly the same point of view, and any change in the point of view makes some change in the way the lkight is reflected.
For most practical purposes these differences are unimportant, but to the painter they are all-important; the painter has to unlearn the habit of thinking that things seem to have the color which common sense says the 'reely' have, and learn the habit of seeing things as they appear. Here we already have the beginning of the distinctions that cause most trouble in philosophy - the distinction between 'appearance' and 'reality',between what things seem to be and what they are; but the philosopher's wish to know this is stronger than thee practical man's, and is more troubled by knowledge as to difficulties of answering this question."
~ Bertrand Russell
The Problems of Philosophy
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