This text is part of the Leonardo special project on Synesthesia and Intersenses, guest edited by Jack Ox and Jacques Mandelbrojt. Synesthesia is the phenomenon in which the stimulation of one sense modality gives rise to a sensation in another sense modality; for example, some synesthetes see colors when they hear music. This special project is devoted to the exploration of the nature and history of this phenomenon, as well as the discussion of intersense relationships, artworks and experiences.

The preceding article by B. Galeyev and I. Vanechkina provoked some strong comments by the Leonardo technical referees during the article’s review phase, including misunderstandings with regard to several key concepts discussed by the authors and, most importantly, a lack of agreement between the referees and the authors about the definition of the term "synesthesia" itself. In response to the referees’ comments author Bulat Galeyev wrote to Leonardo Executive Editor Roger Malina the following letter, which the editors feel sheds important light on many issues surrounding this topic. As part of the ongoing Leonardo special project on synesthesia, we publish Galeyev’s letter here as an open letter to the community.

DEAR ROGER!

Thank you for your letter. I trouble you a lot. I do not feel hurt by your "hard" style. Of course, I am a bit guilty of using some polemical language (especially in the afterword), but otherwise it would be impossible to understand our purpose in writing an article. If I am hurt, it is only by the inadequacy of the review to the content of our article.

Considering everything, it seems we cannot reach an understanding with you. We speak different languages (I mean neither an "English-Russian" nor an "East-West" opposition). But, for truth’s sake, I would like to explain for both you and the reviewer the essence and genesis of these misunderstandings.

It is historically established that the word "synesthesia" has been applied to two different phenomena. One of these is observed at the physiological level as an actual "co-sensation" (e.g. one hears sounds and, besides that, experiences accompanying color sensations). Such "synesthesia" is actually an abnormality; it is obsessive and appears despite the human will. This type is very rare. (By the way, it may be induced in any person’s psyche by some drugs, i.e. under abnormal conditions.) Many people both in the East (Luria, Feihenberg, Bekhtereva and others) and in the West (Cytowic, Baron-Cohen and others) have investigated this phenomenon.

But there is another phenomenon included under the same title, which is connected with intersensory association and metaphorical thinking. That type of synesthesia relates to art, artists and musicians. In this sense practically all people are synesthetes; it is a common ability. (Otherwise we could not easily understand artists who used synesthetic methods and means.)

The reviewer is not right to mockingly ask if we know what synesthesia is. We have in our library hundreds of articles on synesthesia, dating from the 1880s, in various languages (including books by Cytowic and L. Marks, mentioned by the reviewer). And we can see that from the very beginning of the twentieth century there has appeared the necessity to distinguish these two phenomena (see, for instance, the work of C. Rossigneux in France, A. Wellek in Germany and others). In connection with this it was proposed to name the first type of actual co-sensations (abnormalities) "clinical synesthesia," in contrast to ordinary synesthesia (which is normal in psychology and art).

We stress here especially: yes, both types of synesthesia really exist, but they are of different natures (just as, for instance, both hallucination and imagination are inherent in the human psyche, but they nevertheless should not be mixed up).

The first type of synesthesia is a subject for physiology, psychiatry, neurophysiology and medicine. The second type is a subject for psychology, aesthetics, art theory and semiotics. There is no in sense denying the difference between the two. It would be incorrect from a scientific point of view to mix up these heterogeneous phenomena. Unfortunately, some researchers studying the nature of abnormal synesthesia have mentioned the names of Scriabin, Kandinsky, etc. for some reason (I refer to Luria in the then-USSR and Cytowic in the U.S.A.). This is a misunderstanding and a common one. As we may see, this is not a problem only in the West or the East. We do not deserve a reproach for contradicting "Western" methods. We here in Russia also have many supporters of the neurophysiological approach to artistic synesthesia. From the other side, there are many researchers in the West who distinguish these two phenomena. For two years, we have subscribed to the web conference Synesthesia List, organized by the American Synesthesia Society (their e-mail is ). And many younger Western participants have said frankly: yes, the investigations by Cytowic are very interesting, but art synesthesia cannot be explained as the result of brain abnormality, as a pure physiological phenomenon. This has been asserted by Westerners, not by obscure and illiterate Russians!

All this forces us to return to the subject of our article-without any intention to dispute Cytowic and others. We wished to show, on a documentary basis, the nature of Scriabin’s "color hearing." Here is the answer to the reviewer’s question why we do not refer to Cytowic-it is just not necessary.

Maybe it has become clear now why we should end our article with an alternative answer to the question in our title ("Was Scriabin a Synesthete?"): if one uses the approach of Luria or Cytowic, then Scriabin was not a synesthete; if to understand synesthesia as psychologically normal, as according to Wellek or Galeyev, then he was, as are all other artists on Earth. Until we all understand that the basis of our dispute lies in such a (not simple) misunderstanding, we shall go on producing myths.

Roger! Please suggest that the reviewer (if still interested in the synesthesia problem) look at our web site for our articles "What Is Synaesthesia: Myths and Reality" (published in Leonardo Electronic Almanac); "Synaesthesia Is Not a Psychic Abnormality, but a Form of Non-Verbal Thinking" [1]; and my review of the book Children Draw Music, all at .

I hope that after the reviewer has read these articles, more mutual understanding (maybe even consensus) will become possible. Synesthesia is a very complex problem. It is not for nothing that disputes have arisen around it over the last 100 years. For just that reason, about 40 years ago, I put aside physics and began to study physiology, psychology, aesthetics and philosophy. I did this in order to understand the nature of synesthesia, considering it from all sides!

Reference

1. This lecture was presented at a conference in Ireland, "Language, Vision and Music" (Galway, 9-11 August 1999).