Questions tagged [qualia]
Qualia refers to the phenomenal character of subjective experience.
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How do epiphenomenalists make sense of discussions about qualia?
Epiphenomenalists believe that mental events have no causal effect on the physical. They may differ in what they consider "mental events" but it seems all of them would consider qualia / phenomenal ...
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Can conjoined twins share a mind?
A unique recent case of conjoined twins having a neural bridge connecting their brains raises some philosophical questions concerning mind sharing and the mind-body problem. From the article by ...
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Why do people hide the assumption contained in the philosophical zombies question/idea?
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article called "Zombies" https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/zombies/ makes no mention of an assumption that seems to be hidden in the famous ...
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Which signs indicate consciousness in other beings?
There are arguments confirming and denying that animals have consciousness. Some arguments say that not even all humans have consciousness, e.g. small babies.
Which observable signs do exist that ...
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What is the role of sensations in Wittgenstein's private language argument?
In Philosophical Investigations 244-254, before talking about private signs, Wittgenstein is talking about sensations.
He seems to divide this section into addressing in what way words refer to ...
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What is it like to be happy?
I accept that pain is a quale, or qualia.
But does anyone suggest that happiness and sadness, aren't - that someone who has never been happy doesn't learn what happiness is by being happy, that we ...
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Why is the existence of qualia considered an argument for dualism and against materialism?
Qualia is the term to used describe actual subjective experience and sensation, as opposed to mere knowledge and information.
The concept is best described by Frank Jackson's color blind scientist ...
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Can a Philosophical Zombie realize that itself has no Qualia?
So, ok, it's by definition impossible for an outsider to spot a philosophical zombie, but could a philosophical zombie introspectively look inside itself and realize that it has no qualia?
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Qualia and the Myth of the Given
I have a problem understanding Sellar's opinion about Qualia.
On the one hand he denies the existence of the given in "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind" but on the other hand he speaks about the ...
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Qualia in Computers [closed]
If it is possible to simulate consciousness using computer hardware and software, does that mean that computers are able to experience qualia?
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The main reasons for "qualia" being a problem?
What is the main problem behind secondary qualities/qualia?
Because the length of a geometrical object, for example, is a visual sensation just like the redness of a rose; at this point, one might ...
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Why do people make theories without predictive power?
I studied neuroscience and during my studies I had a course called "The philosophy of consciousness". There we looked at a theory called Qualia, which infuriated me to no ends. Reading up on ...
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How is subjective experience of color mapped to the visible spectrum?
Kevin Warwick had a sonar sense implanted and could sense whether an object was close or far. Evidence is accumulating that our brains can make sense of "foreign" information like sonar (consider the ...
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What exactly is the persuasive power behind Jackson's "Mary's Room" argument?
The knowledge argument (also known as Mary's room or Mary the super-scientist) is a philosophical thought experiment proposed by Frank Jackson in his article "Epiphenomenal Qualia" (1982) and extended ...
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Who, if anyone did say it, was the first to say that because no qualia exist it is meaningless to say what I call "red" could be what you call "blue"?
There's a famous question that asks whether two people who agree that they are seeing a red object might be seeing (in their respective subjective experiences) different colors. For example, one is ...