Knowledge of Qualia or Subjective States
May 9, 2013 at 1:14 pm
(This post was last modified: May 9, 2013 at 1:35 pm by Whateverist.)
While I've included a poll to get some idea what most of us think about the importance of this subject, I'm really much more interested in what in particular people think about it. Where to begin? Is there knowledge to be had regarding such things? Can that knowledge be confirmed interpersonally? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then how does one best approach the acquisition of such knowledge, and, having acquired it what is it good for?
Since we and our minds are obviously in the world we all inhabit, the phenomena of our minds (or souls or spirits if you prefer) obviously have their place. What place is that? Answers will vary from the garbage can for nonsense to the pinnacle of all wisdom.
Whatever importance we may attach to qualia we are all intimately acquainted with such things. Phenomenologically we can describe them in some detail when it comes to dreams and waking fantasies and the stuff of altered states.
Arguably every experience is buffered by qualia but that is further than I care to go. If true, it would seem to be so banal an observation as not to bear mentioning. However, I do think there is an important distinction between consensual knowledge of the sort for which science is appropriate and user-knowledge of the workings of our minds. Our position in approaching qualia is obviously different than it is for objective knowledge. We should all tread more carefully here in either promoting or disparaging any particular point of view.
Now on another thread Chad has made the claim that atheism undermines our knowledge by dismissing something he sees as key to understanding something important about our existence. I would invite him to say specifically what he thinks that is and also to say what exactly it is about atheism which disadvantages us in the way he claims. I'll have plenty to say myself but this already exceeds the length most of us will want to wade through.
Since we and our minds are obviously in the world we all inhabit, the phenomena of our minds (or souls or spirits if you prefer) obviously have their place. What place is that? Answers will vary from the garbage can for nonsense to the pinnacle of all wisdom.
Whatever importance we may attach to qualia we are all intimately acquainted with such things. Phenomenologically we can describe them in some detail when it comes to dreams and waking fantasies and the stuff of altered states.
Arguably every experience is buffered by qualia but that is further than I care to go. If true, it would seem to be so banal an observation as not to bear mentioning. However, I do think there is an important distinction between consensual knowledge of the sort for which science is appropriate and user-knowledge of the workings of our minds. Our position in approaching qualia is obviously different than it is for objective knowledge. We should all tread more carefully here in either promoting or disparaging any particular point of view.
Now on another thread Chad has made the claim that atheism undermines our knowledge by dismissing something he sees as key to understanding something important about our existence. I would invite him to say specifically what he thinks that is and also to say what exactly it is about atheism which disadvantages us in the way he claims. I'll have plenty to say myself but this already exceeds the length most of us will want to wade through.
