Re: What should I say to the post-grads about Godel?

Okay, look, here is an argument that consciousness is non-physical in
nature, this is called the argument from qualia. I think Thomas Nagel
might have been the first to make a version of the argument. Imagine a
neurologist who knows absolutely everything there is to know about the
neurology of colour perception. She understands colour perception qua
physical process as well as anyone could possibly understand it. But
she has spent all her life in a black-and-white room wearing black-and-
white clothes and black-and-white gloves. Now we take her outside and
show her what it is like to actually experience colour perception.
This (so the argument goes) shows that there is something about colour
perception she didn't know, even though she knew everything there was
to know about it as a physical process. The subjective character of
experience, the argument claims, cannot be understood in purely
physical terms.

What do you think about that?
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: What should I say to the post-grads about Godel?
    ... neurology of colour perception. ... She understands colour perception qua ... physical process as well as anyone could possibly understand it. ... implicitly asserts that subjective experience cannot be learned as ...
    (sci.logic)
  • Re: What should I say to the post-grads about Godel?
    ... neurology of colour perception. ... She understands colour perception qua ... physical process as well as anyone could possibly understand it. ... implicitly asserts that subjective experience cannot be learned as ...
    (sci.logic)
  • Re: What should I say to the post-grads about Godel?
    ... neurology of colour perception. ... She understands colour perception qua ... physical process as well as anyone could possibly understand it. ... show her what it is like to actually experience colour perception. ...
    (sci.logic)
  • Re: What should I say to the post-grads about Godel?
    ... She understands colour perception qua ... physical process as well as anyone could possibly understand it. ... namely she experiences color for the first time, but I don't see how it ... then you have acquired knowledge. ...
    (sci.logic)
  • Re: What should I say to the post-grads about Godel?
    ... She understands colour perception qua ... physical process as well as anyone could possibly understand it. ... namely she experiences color for the first time, but I don't see how it ... then you have acquired knowledge. ...
    (sci.logic)