I’m not even sure that I agree with this myself, and I realize that this is a bit of a circular definition, but let’s try: mental processes are those which are actually physically occuring in the brain (while qualia seem to be something that’s produced as a side-effect of the physical processes).
mental processes are those which are actually physically occuring in the brain
That’s like redefining “sensation” to mean “afferent neural signal”, which is what necessitated inventing the word “qualia” to stand for what “sensation” used to mean. That one’s a lost cause, but to use “mental process” to mean “the physical counterpart of what we used to call a mental process but we don’t have a word for any more” is just throwing a crowbar into the discourse. Maybe we need a term for “the physical counterpart of a mental process” to distinguish them from other physical processes, but “mental process” can’t be it.
I’m not even sure that I agree with this myself, and I realize that this is a bit of a circular definition, but let’s try: mental processes are those which are actually physically occuring in the brain (while qualia seem to be something that’s produced as a side-effect of the physical processes).
That’s like redefining “sensation” to mean “afferent neural signal”, which is what necessitated inventing the word “qualia” to stand for what “sensation” used to mean. That one’s a lost cause, but to use “mental process” to mean “the physical counterpart of what we used to call a mental process but we don’t have a word for any more” is just throwing a crowbar into the discourse. Maybe we need a term for “the physical counterpart of a mental process” to distinguish them from other physical processes, but “mental process” can’t be it.