The most direct test would be this: “Do you have qualia?”
How is that direct? First you’d have to explain what you mean by that, and “understanding” such an explanation would pretty much require convincing oneself that there are such things to be had in the first place.
There are some things you can test by asking; I can imagine asking someone, “do you ever get a twisty kind of feeling in your stomach or nearby, when you’ve just had something very bad happen to you and it slipped your mind for a while but then it intrudes again on your awareness—and the twisty feeling comes precisely at that moment”.
That’s a feeling. It’s describable. I have it sometimes. It’s an empirical matter whether other people recognize an experience of theirs in that description, or not. It’s much like pointing to a red thing and asking people “is this red”, and then they confirm that it’s red to them.
The most direct test would be this: “Do you have qualia?”
How is that direct? First you’d have to explain what you mean by that, and “understanding” such an explanation would pretty much require convincing oneself that there are such things to be had in the first place.
How is that direct? First you’d have to explain what you mean by that, and “understanding” such an explanation would pretty much require convincing oneself that there are such things to be had in the first place.
There are some things you can test by asking; I can imagine asking someone, “do you ever get a twisty kind of feeling in your stomach or nearby, when you’ve just had something very bad happen to you and it slipped your mind for a while but then it intrudes again on your awareness—and the twisty feeling comes precisely at that moment”.
That’s a feeling. It’s describable. I have it sometimes. It’s an empirical matter whether other people recognize an experience of theirs in that description, or not. It’s much like pointing to a red thing and asking people “is this red”, and then they confirm that it’s red to them.
How are “qualia” different?
Failing to understand would amount to a “No”.