Philosophy of Mind Workshop Series

2. Experiences

WorkshopseriesdevelopedbySophieStammers,researchfellowatProjectPERFECT,UniversityofBirmingham,andconceivedofinpartnershipwithMindinCamdenin2017.Emails.stammers@bham.ac.uk

Guidingquestions

1. Whatisthe“naïvemodel”ofunusualandunsharedexperiences?

2. Howdoweperceivetheworld?Passivelyoractively?

3. Whatdothedifferentmodelsofperceptionmeanforthenaïvemodel?

1)Naïvemodelofunusualandunsharedexperiences

Naïvemodelofunusualandunsharedexperiences

Thenaïvemodelmakes2claims.

1) Itassociatestheseexperienceswillillnessormalfunctioning

2) Itsaystheseexperiencesarebadforus.

Naïvemodelofunusualandunsharedexperiences

2)Itsaystheseexperiencesarebadforus.

i)Psychologicalcosts:Theseexperiencesmakeusfeel bad.

ii)“Epistemic”(knowledge)costs:Theseexperiencesdonotdepictreality.Sotheyharmourknowledge ofourselvesandtheworld.

2)Groupdiscussiononperceptionandexperience

Whatisanexperience?

Whatcausesourexperiences?

If2peopleareinexactlythesamesituation,dotheyhaveexactlythesame

experience?

TheDress

MattHendrick,CreativeCommons,cropped.https://tinyurl.com/thedresscc

“sharedreality”and“unsharedreality”

Whatsortofexperiencesdowetendtoshare?Whataretheylike?

Whatsortofexperiencesdowehavewhichotherpeoplemaynot?

Whataretheylike?

Twomodelsofperceptualprocessing

Passiveprocessing

Newexperience

Somethingintheworld

Active*processing*sometimescalled“predictive”processing

Newexperience

Somethingintheworld

Existingexperience

Expectactions

Existingidea

Example

“Onetime,whenIwasinhighschool,myfriendswitchedsodasonme.IthoughtIwastakingaswigofCocaCola,buthehadreplaceditwithcreamsoda.Iimmediatelyspititout,thinkingittastedhorrible.ButIgenerallylikecreamsoda.Sowhatgives?”

GreggHenriques, “PerceptionandPerceptualIllusions”https://tinyurl.com/m1reading2

Whichmodel,passiveoractiveprocessing,betterexplainsthisexample?

Passiveprocessing

Experience:mmm

Drink(creamsoda)

Onthismodel,it’shardtoexplainwhyGreggwouldhavea“yuck!”reactiontothedrink- he’stoldusthatordinarilyhelikescreamsoda

Activeprocessing

Experience:Yuck – wrongtaste!

Drink(creamsoda)

Expectation:HerecomessomeCocaCola!

ExistingideaoftasteofCocaCola

Onthismodel,theactiveroleofGregg’sexistingideasandexpectationsexplainwhyhehasthatinitial“yuck!”reaction– hewasexpectingsomethingquitedifferent!

Illusion1

https://tinyurl.com/illusionlink1

Illusion2

https://tinyurl.com/illusionlink2

Activeprocessingsuggeststhatourexistingideascanhelpustomakesenseofreality

- eventhoughtheydonotalwaysrepresentthingswhichare“outthere”orsharedbyotherpeople.

3)Whatdothedifferentmodelsofperceptionmeanforthenaïve

model?

Naïvemodelofunusualandunsharedexperiences

Recallthatthenaïvemodelmakes2claims.

1) Itassociatestheseexperienceswillillnessormalfunctioning

2) Itsaystheseexperiencesarebadforus.

Naïvemodelofunusualandunsharedexperiences

2)Itsaystheseexperiencesarebadforus.

i)Psychologicalcosts:Theseexperiencesmakeusfeel bad.

ii)“Epistemic”(knowledge)costs:Theseexperiencesdonotdepictreality.Sotheyharmourknowledge ofourselvesandtheworld.

Anewmodelneeded?

Optionalreadingfornextsession

1.CouldBeingUnrealisticActuallyBeGoodForYourMentalHealth?https://tinyurl.com/m2reading1

2.WhyFalseBeliefsAreNotAlwaysBadhttps://tinyurl.com/m2reading2