Abstract

Aristotle presents what seem to be two different definitions of color, in De anima and in De sensu, respectively. The former seems more intelligible, while the latter has been largely ignored, not only because the work in which it is found receives little scholarly attention but because this definition is more cryptic. I present an overview of the puzzles surrounding this second definition and develop the explanation presented by Thomas Aquinas. To illuminate this explanation I point out similarities and differences between it and that provided by one of the very few modern attempts at interpretation.