Daniel Dennett - Harvard Lecture - Day2 - P10

[PavelSTL]

Interesting. 00:03 "...It is a difference that couldn't make a difference... Come on, what kind of a property is that to hang anything on. The very idea that there is such a property, I think, is just an illusion". Agreed. But the same thing can be said about color, musical tones, and upon extension, any other property. The notion of a "property" per se is a cognitive artifact; and if so, Dennett should be a pragmatist. I'm always puzzled why he is not.

[thyran]

@PavelSTL

I don't quite see how that should make him a pragmatist. Would you elaborate?

[PavelSTL]

@thyran Pragmatists don't make a classic distinction between reality and its appearance. What is "real" is simply what makes a difference (in some context). To talk about, for example, what color "really is" in a metaphysical sense is pointless, even when you reduce it to firing of action potentials in your brain. Yet color is very real, because it carries utility in our lives. When Dennett dismisses a zombie wife as making no difference (illusion), he seems to make precisely the same point

[thyran]

@PavelSTL

Are you saying that machinery cannot differentiate between colours? Dennett would disagree.

[PavelSTL]

@thyran where did I say or imply that machinery cannot differentiate between colors?