Philosophyspeaking topic
Science can describe what happens in your brain when you see red, but nobody can measure the redness you actually experience. Maybe my red is your green, and we have used the same word all our lives without ever seeing the same thing. How would you prove otherwise?
— qualia, the inverted spectrum argument
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
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- The zombie argument: is a being physically identical to us but with no inner experience possible? If consciousness is just brain function, why can't we explain what it feels like from the inside?
- The Gettier problem: is a justified true belief really enough to count as knowledge? If a belief turns out to be true by sheer luck, should we call it knowledge at all?
- Can you be grateful for your own life while fighting injustice in the world?
- When everyone in a society believes the same falsehood, it becomes normal, and the one telling the truth is called mad. Which of the things you are most certain of today will people look back on in a hundred years and ask, how could they ever believe that?