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Full Idea
One of the crucial premises of the antireductionists - concerning the intrinsic, nonrelational, metaphysical simplicity of our sensory qualia - is a question-begging and unsupported assumption.
Gist of Idea
It is question-begging to assume that qualia are totally simple, hence irreducible
Source
Churchland / Churchland (Recent Work on Consciousness [1997])
Book Ref
Churchland,Paul and Patricia: 'On the Contrary: critical essays 1987-1997' [MIT 1998], p.163
A Reaction
This is a key point for reductionists, with emphasis on the sheer numbers of connections involved in a simple quale (I estimate a billion involved in one small patch of red).
7522 | A full neural account of qualia will give new epistemic access to them, beyond private experience [Churchlands] |
7521 | It is question-begging to assume that qualia are totally simple, hence irreducible [Churchlands] |
7523 | The qualia Hard Problem is easy, in comparison with the co-ordination of mental states [Churchlands] |