...another ridiculous philosophical question! *ahem*
Let's say there exists a person who is an absolute expert on everything having to do with human eye vision. We'll call him...I dunno, Ray. When it comes to seeing, he knows ever single process and bit of interaction that occurs in the eye, between the eye and the brain, and in the brain itself. For example, he knows exactly what seeing the color red is like for every possible structure involved in it; every wavelength received, every interpretation, everything.
However, Ray is blind. He has never seen the color red, and he cannot conceive of experiencing the color since all he has ever known is black. Still, no one is more knowledgeable on the experience and the process of seeing red than he is. He's just never done it.
Then, by some miracle or scientific advancement, he gains the ability to see red. Does he learn anything new past what he already knows?
Merry Christmas!
(P.S. And just for fun, is it possible to be an absolute skeptic if you have unbreakable proof in your skepticism? Or is imperfect skepticism, or not knowing for sure if you are skeptical, the only way to be absolutely skeptic? hmmm...)
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Kory- you just blew my mind! Literally brains just started coming out my ear hole.
I'm going to say yes, he experiences something new because to experience something in the way you described in the firt gives you only the experience- there is no feeling attached to it, no joy, no pain, etc. You only know that it can happen, you can't actually experience it for yourself. And that takes away the meaning you would derive from it.
Actually seeing the color red with all those other abilities would be to experience it wholly (wholely?).
Hopefully I did not miss the point entirely!
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