The Confusion of Subjective Character

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Nagler: "I find that I don't like, it's one of those cases unlike ethics where all of my intuitions really do feel pumped" Maybe ethical judgments are just straightforwardly obvious to us because there is some deep sense in which we have evolved to make these kinds of inter social judgments about others. But there is no conceptual tool box that seems to allow me to have intuitions about these cases," Nagler says. 'There is a lot of talk about the problem being the subjective character of experience rather than the character of experience'

We try (with varying success) to wrap our heads around Thomas Nagel’s classic article “What is it Like to be a Bat?" Does science have the tools to give us a theory of consciousness or is that project doomed from the outset? Why do reductionist or functionalist explanations seem so unsatisfying? Is the problem that consciousness is subjective, or is it something about the nature of conscious experience itself? Is this ultimately an epistemological or metaphysical question? What are we talking about? Do we even know anymore?

Plus, the return of Mr. Robot! We talk about the big new mystery at the heart of the new season.

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