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Philosophy of Mind
Colors
Recall that qualia are internal not external Pains, colors, and tastes are not properties of objects in the world outside of the mind They are representations that exist inside the mind The external world is detected by our senses and then represented within our mind [draw diagram] Physicalists are happy with this because there is still the possibility to explain qualia by looking at what the brain does.
Colors
How do we know that our representations are the same? Is it possible that we have inverted spectra? [explain]
If our brains all worked the same, surely we should all experience the same colors, sounds, pains, etc when encountering objects in the external world But we dont know! The physicalist is in trouble now, because if physicalism was true, then we should now. Qualia are private, difficult to describe, and only knowable to the experiencer.
Colors
This leads to the obvious question: Is the blueness of blue in the brain? We have seen that it is not in the outside world, so it must be in the mind. But what is the mind? Is it the brain?
No! There is no box filled with blue color in the brain. All we find in the brain is millions of neural connections firing simultaneously in response to the wavelengths of EM radiation. So it seems that color is something non-physical, that is not explained by physics.
Colors
There is no color in the external world, just EM radiation
Color
Imagine that this brain is expanded in size so that you can walk around inside Take a look at the neurons, run your hand along the dendrites, disrupt a synaptic signal.
Walk through the visual cortex, and explore. As you explore this interesting realm, no-where do you find anything that resembles the BLUENESS of BLUE. In fact, you cant find anything that resembles any conscious experience at all.
The thought here is that if Mary truly knew every physical thing about how color works, then she would be able to imagine what it looks like. The only reason the thought experiment is so compelling is because of our incomplete understanding of the physical universe.
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Is Dualism False?
So what would it mean if dualism is false? No soul. This life is it, we must hold on to it for as long as we can
Quote from Do not go gentle into that good night - Dylan Thomas 1951