Philosophy E156: Philosophy of Mind Fall 2013. Week 13: Dennett on Qualia. Take a few deep breaths and relax your mind. Stare at the blue dot for 30 seconds. Close your eyes and an after-image should appear.
Week 13: Dennett on Qualia
Stare at the blue dot for 30 seconds.
Close your eyes and an after-image should appear.
“At first, the after-image you see is the color orange; the same after-image will then take on the color blue. The color and shape of this test can be changed (red dot in a green square) and will yield the same results.
“The Orange Card test shows that by staring at the blue dot for long enough, upon closing your eyes, an after-image of orange then blue will appear. Even if it disappears for a second, just by thinking that it will re-appear.. it will in fact, re-appear. Try it.”
And we can explain the meaningfulness of what we say by taking ourselves to refer with the expression to a mental object.
(illustration from http://www.philosophyonline.co.uk/oldsite/tok/empiricism5.htm)
Locke’s Essay, Book II, Chapter 8, sections 9 & 10