Quote:
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Originally Posted by whoa182
Concsiousness, I know that I am conscious, But how do I know you are?
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So we just dont know. But we assume that other peers are consiouss and we clearly are. But I cannot truely 100% experience their state of consciousness.
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What is special about another person is that he/she is a totally foreign subject, an ineffable and radical exteriority. If you could ‘touch’, ‘connect’ or ‘communicate’ directly with the other’s consciousness, both of you would lose your ‘otherness’ toward each other; you would become parts of a same ‘network’, components of a bigger whole. Both of you would lose your subjectivity. The world would collapse into monism. Direct experimentation of someone else’s consciousness is thus impossible.
Which experimental evidence can you find then of the other’s consciousness if you cannot experiment directly with it?
Let’s try this exercise:
(1) We have a (virtual) volunteer, a man named Paul. We also have a statue of Paul carved in stone. First examine the statue. You can see that it is a convincing replica of Paul, that it is well polished, the colours in the stone are lively, and it is cold to the touch. You can experience the statue of Paul because you are directing your consciousness toward it, and your intentionality makes this ‘thing’ an object that is ‘the statue of Paul’.
(2) Here comes Paul—the man—in the room and walks beside his statue. You can experience Paul because you are directing your consciousness toward Paul (you have to, otherwise, you would not be conscious that Paul is in the room). You see his body, his clothes; you can feel the warmth of his skin and hear his breathing. You are touching and feeling ‘matter’—a thing— and your intentionality makes this ‘thing’ an object that is ‘Paul’. You try to ‘touch’ his consciousness in vain. Paul’s subjectivity is transcending his body. In your eyes, Paul is as much an object as his statue, that is, to experience Paul, your consciousness has no other choice but to ‘objectify’ Paul.
(3) Then, while you are examining Paul, you suddenly realise that Paul is looking at you. Paul is examining you as you are examining him. A thought comes to your mind, “If Paul is experiencing the same while examining me as I am while examining him, then that means that, at this very moment, Paul is objectifying me.” You have the feeling of being an object in Paul’s eyes. You know, because you know that your own subjectivity transcends your body. Yet, you didn’t get that feeling from the statue.
Therefore, even though you did not directly ‘touch’ Paul’s consciousness, the feeling you get from Paul’s look is evidence that there is a consciousness ‘inside’ Paul.
