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Dear Sirs,
Dr Goldberg wonders if the articles in the philosophy series are properly refereed, since Tyler Burge speaks of qualia in his article on perception, whereas Dr Metzinger denies that qualia exist. In philosophy, as in psychoanalysis, there is no one and only right position on any question. The hope is that the arguments in this series are presented sufficiently clearly for the reader to
spot where some of the interesting issues may lie. About qualia: people who know this area of philosophy much better than I do tell me that ‘holding there are qualia’ covers a range of views—including ones that do not take qualia as individuals; ‘they’ can be properties or aspects of awareness. Given such a broad understanding, most philosophers (outside a few eliminationists like Dennett, Quine, Churchlands) believe in qualia, though there is dispute about what this belief comes to. I might add that I am not familiar with Dr Metzinger's work, though perhaps I should be.
Respectfully,
MARCIA CAVELL
Editor of the Philosophy series
19 March 2003