Re: Qualia Question



Glen M. Sizemore wrote:
> "JGCASEY" <jgkjcasey@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:1120257830.580356.235230@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> >
> > Glen M. Sizemore wrote:
> > > > Glen M. Sizemore wrote:
> > > > > "I assert that my toothache is just
> > > > > as physical as my typewriter."
> > >
> > >
> > > > Then why doesn't the dentist pull the
> > > > ache and leave the tooth?
> > >
> > >
> > > The point is, of course, that the implication
> > > of your post was that Skinnerians argue that
> > > people do not have feelings or introspect,
> > > but this is not what they argue. They argue
> > > that what is introspected is behavior, and
> > > behavior is physical, though it is not a
> > > thing.
> > >
> > >
> > > And the answer to your frivolous question is:
> > > "Sometimes they do, in a sense, when they
> > > administer either analgesics or local
> > > anesthetics."
> >
> >
> > As someone once wrote, needles and chairs are
> > both made of atoms but are very different things
> > to sit upon. An ache is not physical in the same
> > sense that a tooth is physical.
> >
> > You are merely making an analogy. A light wave
> > and a sound wave have things in common (wavelike)
> > but are different in nature.
>
> Is a lever-press physical? What about a wave of the
> hand? Is it physical when I say something?


The point is, *everything* is physical. To say that
a chair and a tree are both physical tells us nothing
about the nature of how they are different.

To say that an ache (private behavior) and a lever-press
(objective behavior) are both physical tells us nothing
about the nature of how they are different.

Our subjective state changes over time and we build
objective models of Reality out of the constraints
shown by these subjective states as they transform
in time.

These objective models do not "explain" the subjective
nature of our experiences.

Experiences exist and they show constraint. We build
an objective world out of those subjective constraints.
One of those constraints appears to be that our subject
experiences coincide with a physical brain.

JC

.

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