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Full Idea
The goal of an objective phenomenology would be to describe, at least in part, the subjective character of experiences in a form comprehensible to beings incapable of having those experiences.
Gist of Idea
Can we describe our experiences to zombies?
Source
Thomas Nagel (What is it like to be a bat? [1974], p.179)
Book Ref
Nagel,Thomas: 'Mortal Questions' [CUP 1981], p.179
A Reaction
This seems a bizarre expectation. We can already explain visual experience to the blind up to a point, but no one is dreaming of an "objective phenomenology" which will give blind people total understanding, just by reading about it in braille.
| 4883 | Nagel's title creates an impenetrable mystery, by ignoring a bat's ways that may not be "like" anything [Dennett on Nagel] |
| 4989 | Physicalism should explain how subjective experience is possible, but not 'what it is like' [Kirk,R on Nagel] |
| 3286 | An organism is conscious if and only if there is something it is like to be that organism [Nagel] |
| 3287 | We can't be objective about experience [Nagel] |
| 3288 | Can we describe our experiences to zombies? [Nagel] |