Discussion about this post

User's avatar
The Ancient Geek's avatar

"I find considerable irony in the fact that critics of views like illusionism can’t even explain what it is that it’s so stupid for us to deny. "

"Pains hurt". That's a stupid thing to deny.

Expand full comment
Rasmus Enbom's avatar

phenomenal state and qualia are meaningful. phenomenal state is a state that is constituted by qualia. and qualia are such properties that constitute what it is like to have an experience. what-it-is-like is also meaningful. and to try to convey the concept or idea, i might ask...

when someone in pain or who is suffering would perhaps feel that their suffering is being undermined, they might say “you don’t know what’s like”. do you understand what that means?

I anticipate that you will respond, as you have done before, that

“I don’t think we can move from colloquial, ordinary uses of terms to the presumption that if the phrases in question are meaningful in those everyday contexts that therefore they’re meaningful in philosophical contexts”

and my answer here would just be: why the heck not? presumably there are many words, or set of words, you're using in colloquial contexts the same way in philosophical contexts, so then why can’t you do the same with ‘what-it-is-like’? how is it disanalogous?

Expand full comment
23 more comments...

No posts