Abstract: Black has attracted commentary from a long list of philosophers: Empedocles, Aristotle, Goethe, Wittgenstein, and, more recently, C. L. Hardin and Jonathan Westphal. Color scientists have joined the discussion with a sufficient condition for being black: indiscriminate light absorption. This chapter denies that this is also a necessary condition. In particular, the blackness of shadows is defended. Emphasis is placed on the physical and metaphysical variety of black things: sunspots, black holes, light traps, and so on.

Keywords: color, shadows, black holes, sunspots, Westphal, Hardin,