Questions for the friends of qualia.
Posted: Fri May 22, 2015 1:34 pm
Some questions for the friends of qualia.
When you experience, at a particular moment, a necker cube, does the quale come in one of 3 different flavors (out to right, up to left, or flat on page) and shift when you “see it” in a different way? Or is there a single quale that can change among these 3 appearances?
Along the same lines, are there two different qualia before and after you see the Jesus image, or only a single quale here?
For those of you who see the Jesus image right away (perhaps because of earlier exposure), I apologize. Imagine that it took you some time, as it did for most of us on our virginal experience. If anyone has another good “one way” ambiguous figure example, I would be grateful to be shown it. By “one way” I intend an ambiguous figure such that, once you see it, it is impossible to unsee it – or at least it is difficult and you are likely to succeed only briefly. This feature of the Jesus figure example I like because it leads into my next qualia question.
When looking at a picture of a crowd you realize that one of the faces is not a stranger after all, but a friend of yours. Does the quale change into a different quale, or is it only that you hold a different belief about one and the same quale? Does the quale differ from what it would otherwise be because, knowing your friend, you can tell that he was amused or frustrated when the picture was taken?
If you experience Isabel Leonard singing “Non so piu” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9usaRXn1IA), is there a single quale or a visual quale and a auditory quale? How long does the quale last before it is replaced by another?
Does it make a difference in the visual quale (or unified visual-auditory quale) of Leonard if you see it on your computer, on a Met HD Live screen or live at the Met from a close seat? Assume that pattern on your retina is the same, but that your eye focusing muscles are at quite different tensions in the 3 cases? Is the unconscious information you have about those muscles, which we know contributes to your 3 dimensional acuity, part of the visual quale or not?
Can sincere qualia reports ever be false?
Can you be certain about the appearance features of your qualia?
I ask these questions of the friends of qualia, not as a qualia enemy, but more as a mere acquaintance. There is a reality that people are talking about when they talk about qualia, but I suspect that the reality is not quite what it is often thought to be. In particular, what is lumped together a qualia, may be several different phenomena with importantly different epistemic properties.
If you are interested in the history, you might want to look at my blog post on a prior generation's take on qualia, called “sense data.” I ask whether when you close your eyes tightly you see sense data – a question that can just as well be asked of qualia. I argue that sense data theorists required two incompatible epistemic properties of their sense data – immediacy and incorrigibility. Some contemporary qualia theorists may sometimes fall into a similar mistake. http://lawrencecrocker.blogspot.com/201 ... ata-i.html
When you experience, at a particular moment, a necker cube, does the quale come in one of 3 different flavors (out to right, up to left, or flat on page) and shift when you “see it” in a different way? Or is there a single quale that can change among these 3 appearances?
Along the same lines, are there two different qualia before and after you see the Jesus image, or only a single quale here?
For those of you who see the Jesus image right away (perhaps because of earlier exposure), I apologize. Imagine that it took you some time, as it did for most of us on our virginal experience. If anyone has another good “one way” ambiguous figure example, I would be grateful to be shown it. By “one way” I intend an ambiguous figure such that, once you see it, it is impossible to unsee it – or at least it is difficult and you are likely to succeed only briefly. This feature of the Jesus figure example I like because it leads into my next qualia question.
When looking at a picture of a crowd you realize that one of the faces is not a stranger after all, but a friend of yours. Does the quale change into a different quale, or is it only that you hold a different belief about one and the same quale? Does the quale differ from what it would otherwise be because, knowing your friend, you can tell that he was amused or frustrated when the picture was taken?
If you experience Isabel Leonard singing “Non so piu” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9usaRXn1IA), is there a single quale or a visual quale and a auditory quale? How long does the quale last before it is replaced by another?
Does it make a difference in the visual quale (or unified visual-auditory quale) of Leonard if you see it on your computer, on a Met HD Live screen or live at the Met from a close seat? Assume that pattern on your retina is the same, but that your eye focusing muscles are at quite different tensions in the 3 cases? Is the unconscious information you have about those muscles, which we know contributes to your 3 dimensional acuity, part of the visual quale or not?
Can sincere qualia reports ever be false?
Can you be certain about the appearance features of your qualia?
I ask these questions of the friends of qualia, not as a qualia enemy, but more as a mere acquaintance. There is a reality that people are talking about when they talk about qualia, but I suspect that the reality is not quite what it is often thought to be. In particular, what is lumped together a qualia, may be several different phenomena with importantly different epistemic properties.
If you are interested in the history, you might want to look at my blog post on a prior generation's take on qualia, called “sense data.” I ask whether when you close your eyes tightly you see sense data – a question that can just as well be asked of qualia. I argue that sense data theorists required two incompatible epistemic properties of their sense data – immediacy and incorrigibility. Some contemporary qualia theorists may sometimes fall into a similar mistake. http://lawrencecrocker.blogspot.com/201 ... ata-i.html