Philosophy Now Forum

Skepdick wrote: ↑Tue Oct 06, 2020 7:39 am

commonsense wrote: ↑Mon Oct 05, 2020 11:50 pm I do not agree that the feeling of redness explained is aaahness. I have nothing further to say about aaaahness. That is a matter for Skepdick and Dimebag.

It doesn't matter what you call it.

So long as you agree that the experience of "redness explained" is a different experience to "redness", you are right back where you started.

Now you need to bridge the gap between explanations and the experience thereof.

Yes, there’s redness, the experience of redness, explanation, and experience of explanation. Insert anything you like into the following: anything has a specific collection of nerves that fire in the brain.

commonsense wrote: ↑Tue Oct 06, 2020 4:47 pm Yes, there’s redness, the experience of redness, explanation, and experience of explanation. Insert anything you like into the following: anything has a specific collection of nerves that fire in the brain.

Obviously.

The point is that redness has one specific collection of nerves firing.
An explanation of redness has a different collection of nerves firing.

If the latter only explains the former (in particular), but doesn't explain itself, then you've successfully lost track of the objective at hand.

Whether you believe in reality is immaterial.

Skepdick wrote: ↑Tue Oct 06, 2020 5:49 pm

commonsense wrote: ↑Tue Oct 06, 2020 4:47 pm Yes, there’s redness, the experience of redness, explanation, and experience of explanation. Insert anything you like into the following: anything has a specific collection of nerves that fire in the brain.

Obviously.

The point is that redness has one specific collection of nerves firing.
An explanation of redness has a different collection of nerves firing.

If the latter only explains the former (in particular), but doesn't explain itself, then you've successfully lost track of the objective at hand.

I think I’m on the cusp of understanding and agreeing.

So you’re saying there has to be an explanation of an explanation of redness (or of anything else), is that right? Will there further need to be explanations of explanations of explanations, and so on? Does “explanation” have a special meaning for you?