Well, if an experience of a red thing is taken to be a non-physical fact, then there are certainly non-physical facts, inasmuch as there are experiences of red things.
Agreed. I think it’s illegitimate to suggest that the problem of qualia can be dismissed by associating experiential facts with physical facts, and then revoking the fact-license of the experiential one. This isn’t to say that I think the problem of qualia is an unsolved one. It just can’t be solved (or disolved or whatever) like that.
I don’t know, since I’m not really sure what you have in mind when you say “nonphysical fact,” beyond knowing that experiencing red is an example.
I was using the term ‘fact’ as I understood Duck to be using it. I guess I’d say a fact is something that’s true. (Though we use the term ambiguously, sometimes meaning ‘the state of affairs about which a true thing is said’ or something like that) A physical fact is something thats true and that’s about nature. An astrological fact is something that’s true and that’s about astrological stuff (and from this we get the conclusion that there are no positive astrological facts).
Well, I certainly agree that all of this semantic pettifoggery gets us no closer to understanding what distinguishes systems capable of having experiences from those that aren’t, or how to identify a real experience that we ourselves aren’t having, or how to construct systems capable of having experiences, or how to ensure that systems we construct won’t have experiences.
Agreed. I think it’s illegitimate to suggest that the problem of qualia can be dismissed by associating experiential facts with physical facts, and then revoking the fact-license of the experiential one. This isn’t to say that I think the problem of qualia is an unsolved one. It just can’t be solved (or disolved or whatever) like that.
I was using the term ‘fact’ as I understood Duck to be using it. I guess I’d say a fact is something that’s true. (Though we use the term ambiguously, sometimes meaning ‘the state of affairs about which a true thing is said’ or something like that) A physical fact is something thats true and that’s about nature. An astrological fact is something that’s true and that’s about astrological stuff (and from this we get the conclusion that there are no positive astrological facts).
Well, I certainly agree that all of this semantic pettifoggery gets us no closer to understanding what distinguishes systems capable of having experiences from those that aren’t, or how to identify a real experience that we ourselves aren’t having, or how to construct systems capable of having experiences, or how to ensure that systems we construct won’t have experiences.