The genesis story of experience
- Dates
- Wednesday 21 November 2018 (15:15-17:00)
Philosophy PGR seminar series 2018/19
- Speaker: Will Sharp
- Title: The genesis story of experience
The Philosophy department's PGR seminar is an opportunity for postgraduate research students at Birmingham to present the material they are working on to the department's staff and other students. The seminar meets roughly on fortnightly Wednesdays from 15:15 to 17:00 in the ERI. All welcome!
Abstract
What if we were to start our investigation of sensory experience with a wish list? “The best theory of experience would respect these intuitions.” If there is a theory that satisfies all of our (highly weighted) intuitions about experience, it is not any of the currently advanced theories because they each sacrifice at least one of these intuitions for others. I want to argue that a theory which makes good on our wish list does not inevitably result in contradiction or inconsistency. Such a theory exists (Christmas comes early this year), and it says that the subjective character of experiences of, or as of, F is grounded in a kind of genesis story about that character.
(If there is time, I will explain that, more than simply comfortably comporting with all our deepheld intuitions, this novel theory is motivated by anti-inferentialist work of Nico Orlandi’s.)