Hi JWK

The problem in falling back on the term "experience" is that it includes the notion of consciousness within itself - or might easily be seen to do so. So we would be defining something in terms of itself.

Think, for example, of statements like: "I have never experienced anything like that", or "That's not my experience" etc. They imply, do they not, that consciousness in some form is part of the experiencing? Or at least they do not exclude that possibility.

The same problem, precisely, arises with other substitute terms like "feel" "awareness" etc.

I notice that a number of "analytic" philosophers (if not most) try to deal with the problem of consciousness by falling back on one or more such substitute terms. It’s one reason why, in my view, the whole area gives the impression of people paddling frantically but going nowhere.

DA