Can you dig it?
If a philosopher philosophises in a blog that no one reads, does he make a stink about it? Read on. That will make sense in a minute...depending on what senses you bring to the table that is.
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The humanoids of Galafray are in many ways just like us. Their sense perception, however, is very different.
For example, light reflected in the frequency range of the spectrum visible to humans is smelled by the Galafrains. What we see as blue, they sniff as citrus. Also, what we hear, they see. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is for them a silent psychedelic light show of breathtaking beauty. The only things they hear are thoughts: their own and those of others. Taste is the preserve of the eyes. Their best art galleries are praised for their deliciousness.
They do not have the sense of touch, but they do have another sense we lack, called mulst. It detects movement and is perceived through the joints. It is as impossible for us to imagine mulst as it is for Galafrains to imagine touch.
When humans first heard about this strange race, it did not take long for someone to ask: when a tree falls in a forest on Galafray, does it make a noise? At the same time, on Galafray they were asking: when a film is shown on Earth, does it make a smell?
Source: A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge by George Berkeley, 1710.
Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 241.
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Knowing how little I wrote about George Berkeley, it's not surprising this week's thought experiment is a bit silly. It's a good one to demonstrate the importance of having an evolutionary perspective though, so I'll be back on Friday for a quick analysis of this. Can you already taste it?
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The humanoids of Galafray are in many ways just like us. Their sense perception, however, is very different.
For example, light reflected in the frequency range of the spectrum visible to humans is smelled by the Galafrains. What we see as blue, they sniff as citrus. Also, what we hear, they see. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is for them a silent psychedelic light show of breathtaking beauty. The only things they hear are thoughts: their own and those of others. Taste is the preserve of the eyes. Their best art galleries are praised for their deliciousness.
They do not have the sense of touch, but they do have another sense we lack, called mulst. It detects movement and is perceived through the joints. It is as impossible for us to imagine mulst as it is for Galafrains to imagine touch.
When humans first heard about this strange race, it did not take long for someone to ask: when a tree falls in a forest on Galafray, does it make a noise? At the same time, on Galafray they were asking: when a film is shown on Earth, does it make a smell?
Source: A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge by George Berkeley, 1710.
Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 241.
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Knowing how little I wrote about George Berkeley, it's not surprising this week's thought experiment is a bit silly. It's a good one to demonstrate the importance of having an evolutionary perspective though, so I'll be back on Friday for a quick analysis of this. Can you already taste it?
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