What is it Like to be a Bat? - the hard problem of consciousness

Jeffrey Kaplan September 4, 2020
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Jeffrey Kaplan

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I am a philosophy professor. These are my video lectures.

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I am writing a book! If you want to know when it is ready (and maybe win a free copy), submit your email on my website: https://www.jeffreykaplan.org/ I won’t spam you or share your email address with anyone. Dualism & Physicalism: https://youtu.be/P3pmVf3Gs70 This is a video about Thomas Nagel's famous 1974 Philosophical Review paper, "What is the like to be a bat?" The paper introduces a novel argument against physicalism. The basic idea is that consciousness embodies (or can only be understood) from a subjective point of view. But physical science, by definition, gets away from subjective perspectives and goes toward objective understanding. So when one tries to give a scientific account of conscious experience, one ends up getting farther away from the very phenomenon that one set out to understand. It is also mentioned that dualism may be no better off at explaining consciousness. This video also includes a list of approximate synonyms for consciousness, including qualia, the phenomenal character of experience, phenomenonolgy, qualia, etc. This is part of an introductory-level philosophy course.

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