Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Illusionists and qualia quietists reject mental privacy, the feature of phenomenal consciousness that (I argue) generates the problem of other minds. But I think we should accept privacy, since it best explains a number of facts concerning science, medicine, and our ordinary lives. Today, we don't discuss the negative arguments against privacy or the anti-physicalist implications of privacy, just why (a certain type of) mental privacy is real.
(You may have already heard the core arguments in the previous video on privacy. This episode gives more background on privacy in the literature, explores the problem of other minds, the connection with zombies, and then presents those same arguments.)
here, I sum up the epistemic asymmetry argument for the privacy of consciousness with Nathan Ormond: youtube.com/watch?v=xsU2-tqY0p4
full episode on walden pod (this is where you can also find links to the quoted papers): open.spotify.com/episode/61YgFkX3mY9sNtMIn7gLc5
my linktree https://linktr.ee/emersongreen
00:00 Intro
08:00 What is privacy?
16:00 Other minds, the epistemic asymmetry, and perception
38:22 Zombies
43:43 The Epistemic Asymmetry Argument
48:20 Inference to the Best Explanation
Illusionists and qualia quietists reject mental privacy, the feature of phenomenal consciousness that (I argue) generates the problem of other minds. But I think we should accept privacy, since it best explains a number of facts concerning science, medicine, and our ordinary lives. Today, we don't discuss the negative arguments against privacy or the anti-physicalist implications of privacy, just why (a certain type of) mental privacy is real.
(You may have already heard the core arguments in the previous video on privacy. This episode gives more background on privacy in the literature, explores the problem of other minds, the connection with zombies, and then presents those same arguments.)
here, I sum up the epistemic asymmetry argument for the privacy of consciousness with Nathan Ormond: youtube.com/watch?v=xsU2-tqY0p4
full episode on walden pod (this is where you can also find links to the quoted papers): open.spotify.com/episode/61YgFkX3mY9sNtMIn7gLc5
my linktree https://linktr.ee/emersongreen
00:00 Intro
08:00 What is privacy?
16:00 Other minds, the epistemic asymmetry, and perception
38:22 Zombies
43:43 The Epistemic Asymmetry Argument
48:20 Inference to the Best Explanation
