From PhilPapers forum Philosophy of Mind: |
| 2009-05-24 |
The 'Explanatory Gap'
Reply to JWK Matthewson Matthewson |
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Stevan Harnad
Université du Québec à Montreal |
SH: (Please, please let not another quantum mysterian chime in on the QM entanglements of neutrons!)" JWKMM: "I would like to defend myself against the accusation of "mysterianism"... defined as... 1 Ontological naturalism: the view that holds (inter alia) that [feeling] is a natural feature of the world; 2 Epistemic irreducibility: the view that holds that there is no explanation of [feeling] available to us".... I admit to agreeing with (1) but not with (2). So rest assured, I will not chime in with a mysterian point, I will just restate the fact that... Physical theory cannot (and could never) explain why an action potential actually moves up a membrane or why a neutron is emitted at a particular moment from a mass of U235..." By this definition I am more than happy to declare myself a feeling ("qualia") mysterian; but what I was referring to was quantum mysterians (which you assuredly are!); and, in particular, the importation of quantum mysterianism into the sanctum of qualia mystery: Two unrelated koans neither explain, eliminate nor engulf one another... -- Joshu(a)
Permanent link: http://philpapers.org/post/1055
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