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A Calculus of Qualia

Paul Merriam

DOI: 10.32388/g447p9 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper
Key points Proposes that incorporating qualia into equations yields 'qualations' with distinct meanings and truth behaviors from standard equations, advancing a 'calculus of qualia' to include first-person phenomena in science.

Abstract

The idea of this paper is to put actual qualia into equations (broadly understood) to get what might be called _qualations_. Qualations arguably have different meanings and truth behaviors than the analogous equations. For example, the term ‘ black ’ arguably has a different meaning and behavior than the term ‘ ⬛ ’. This is a step in the direction of a ‘calculus of qualia’ and of expanding science to include 1stperson phenomena.