"Cayuse" wrote:I see a bent pencil. What added value is there is postulating the existence of something that "consciously experiences" the seeing of that pencil?
BruceD replied:
When you tell me "I see a red pencil", I don't postulate "You". Rather, I have no reason to doubt that there is "You", a person, who sees a red pencil. Now, I may be wrong. Perhaps you are a robot that is programmed to say "I see a red pencil" when that object is its visual field. Then there is no "You." But there is still "Me" wondering what will happen next.
When you tell me "I see a red pencil", there is a physical object in the data of experience that is making that report. Even if that object is a robot that is programmed to say "I see a red pencil" when that object is in its visual field, that robot is quite correctly said to be "seeing the pencil". And the robot may even be programmed to wonder what will happen next. But what added value is there in postulating the existence of something that "consciously experiences" the seeing of the pencil,or the wondering of what will happen next?
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