For example, if I think I see an oasis, but it is actually an illusion, then it is the oasis that is illusionary and not my experience of seeing. In other words, if an experience is an illusion, then we still have the experience of seeing that illusion.
I don’t find this convincing personally :).
I think an illusion can simply refer to a false belief which is caused by corrupted cognitive processes. In this case, the false belief really is sincerely held, and I do not deny this. But, every time we introspect, we’re not accessing some realm of direct metaphysical truths, we’re just running a cognitive algorithm. It’s similar to a computer that has an internal check, and runs a subroutine asking itself if it’s conscious. If the computer always returns “Yes, I am conscious, and my conscious states have these properties...” I can always point to an explanation which sheds light on this reply without referring to the conscious properties.
What you’ve written is a reasonable point to make, I just don’t find the term “illusion” productive here as people are more likely than not to try to draw an incorrect analogy. Making actual progress here requires to drop the term and use more precise language like you have. Maybe I’m making too much of an issue out of this, but this is certainly a peeve of mine.
I don’t find this convincing personally :).
I think an illusion can simply refer to a false belief which is caused by corrupted cognitive processes. In this case, the false belief really is sincerely held, and I do not deny this. But, every time we introspect, we’re not accessing some realm of direct metaphysical truths, we’re just running a cognitive algorithm. It’s similar to a computer that has an internal check, and runs a subroutine asking itself if it’s conscious. If the computer always returns “Yes, I am conscious, and my conscious states have these properties...” I can always point to an explanation which sheds light on this reply without referring to the conscious properties.
What you’ve written is a reasonable point to make, I just don’t find the term “illusion” productive here as people are more likely than not to try to draw an incorrect analogy. Making actual progress here requires to drop the term and use more precise language like you have. Maybe I’m making too much of an issue out of this, but this is certainly a peeve of mine.