rationalskepticism.org

jamest wrote:

GrahamH wrote:

scott1328 wrote:Red cannot be an illusion, if an illusion is defined as "not what it seems," and "red" is defined to be a label the mind attaches to a particular class of sensations.

The point is that labels are not the things they refer to.

Graham, as you acknowledge consciousness and/or the brain has no absolute/direct knowledge/observation of anything, so please therefore inform us of something which is not an illusion.

Knowledge is by nature indirect. What is 'direct knowledge'? If you know X about Y then X is not directly Y.

The point here is that colour experiences (qualia) are knowledge' of subject relative to object, not some subjective thing in itself that is observed or 'felt' by a subject mind. The function of seeing a red bus is not identical with experience of seeing a red bus. There is 'knowledge' of the bus and 'knowledge' of seeing it. I scare-quote 'knowledge' because I refer to information processed by the brain, not a subjective experience of knowing or thinking about it.