In the 1939 classic film “The Wizard of
Oz,” Dorothy visits The Emerald City, so named because virtually the entirety
of the city is, in fact, emerald in color. As you may know, the film is not always
completely faithful to the book upon which it is based. In L. Frank Baum’s
original “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” (1900), while the walls of The Emerald
City are green, the city itself is not. In the book, upon entry into the city,
everyone is required to wear green-tinted spectacles (explained as an
effort to protect the eyes of the residents from the "brightness and
glory" of the city). These spectacles have the effect of making everything
appear green even though the city is objectively no greener than any
other.
Dorothy
was shocked to learn the truth from the Wizard of Oz: “But isn’t everything
here green?” asked Dorothy. “No more than in any other city,” replied Oz; “but
when you wear green spectacles, why of course everything you see looks green to
you…[M]y people have worn green glasses on their eyes so
long that most of them think it really is an Emerald City…[i]
Given that the reason that the residents of the city believe it to be emerald is the filtering effect of their colored glasses, it follows that if instead of green tinted spectacles, they wore scarlet tinted spectacles, the residents would think they lived in The Scarlet City. If they wore turquoise tinted spectacles, they would believe that they lived in The Turquoise City. If the residents wore magenta tinted spectacles, they would think that they were residents of The Magenta City. And so on…
It further follows that if those wearing
scarlet, turquoise, magenta, and emerald tinted spectacles, were to look at the
same item at the same time and under the same conditions, each would make a
different judgment regarding the color of the item, regardless of its actual
color—a judgment that conforms not to the objective reality of the object, but
to the color of the lenses through which their respective perceptions are being
filtered.
And if the city actually was emerald in
color…?
Those viewing a legitimately emerald city through
scarlet, turquoise, and magenta tinted spectacles would still incorrectly judge
the city to be scarlet, turquoise, and magenta. Those wearing emerald
spectacles would make an ostensibly “correct” judgment, but would that judgment
be justified? Would the wearer know the color of the city? Even if the
judgment of the wearer of the green spectacles corresponds with the true color
of the city, the correctness of that judgment would be entirely accidental, and
that judgment would only be justified in precisely the same way and to precisely
the same degree as the incorrect judgments of those who are wearing glasses
with the alternate tinting.
If one looks at their broken watch that
just happens to display the current correct time, can one really be said
to know the correct time?
Wearers of different colored spectacles
are all equally justified in their judgments of the color of the city. Wearing
tinted spectacles makes it impossible to distinguish between the true color of
the city and all other possibilities. Even if the city is indeed emerald,
the wearer of the emerald tinted spectacles is not justified in their judgment
that the city is emerald. Through tinted spectacles, one cannot know the
color of the city.
The Wizard observes that the residents of
The Emerald City “have worn green glasses on their eyes so long that most of
them think it really is an Emerald City.” (italics added) It seems that
after wearing the tinted spectacles long enough, the wearer will no longer
judge that the city appears to them to be emerald in color; instead,
they to fail to notice that it is the glasses that are making things look
green, and start interpreting their filtered perceptions as confirmation of
their belief that the city is indeed emerald in color.
Given that (i) those wearing the various tinted
spectacles are equally (un)justified and equally confident in their respective
judgments with regards to the color of the city, each can be confronted by potential
evidence that they are wrong—eye witness reports of differing colors from those
wearing the different colors—and feel secure in their rejection of any and all
counter-evidence because of their own experience; and given that (ii) those
wearing tinted spectacles fail to notice that they are wearing them, it will
be impossible for the residents to know the true color of their city, and
impossible to discover if they are mistaken, until they can be brought to the
realization that they are, in fact, wearing tinted spectacles, and that they ought
to take them off.
[i] Baum,
L. F. & Denslow, W. W. (1900) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Chicago;
New York: G.M. Hill Co., 1900.
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