Qualiomics: The metaphysics of consciousness
Abstract
Assuming that conscious experience happens in the first-person perspective the study of its contents cannot be made by using the methods of empirical and formal quantitative sciences, since singular qualitative personal experiences remain outside their scope. Departing from the concept of Sentient Consciousness advanced in the ontology of Triple-Aspect Monism, I propose that lived experiences of qualitative states (‘qualia’) are subject to a new, non-scientific field of study, Qualiomics, corresponding to the Metaphysics of Consciousness. The main thesis of Qualiomics is that personal direct experiences of ‘qualia’ are experiences of the being of reality, not epiphenomena. The method of Qualiomics is knowing by means of lived experiences of feeling, instead of learning from revealed truth or from representations of experiences. In this paper I review some philosophical precursors, arguing that it has an affinity with Post-Modern Metaphysics, to be distinguished from Pre-Modern (Onto-Teo-Logical) and Modern (apriori thinking, focused on representations and clarification of concepts) Metaphysics. The being of reality is conceived as the Aristotelian Katholou that makes itself present when we have direct experiences of the Form of individual substances. Qualiomics is close to Existential Phenomenology, but not a revival of Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, because it is necessary to take into consideration that scientific and technological achievements impact on our lives and expand the repertoire of ‘qualia’ that we can experience. It is also close to J. J. Gibson’s Theory of Direct Perception, as well as Pragmatist and Enactivist approaches to consciousness.
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