Perplexities of Consciousness

Abstract

Do you dream in color? If you answer Yes,how can you be sure? Before you recount your vivid memory of a dream featuringall the colors of the rainbow, consider that in the 1950s, researchers foundthat most people reported dreaming in black and white. In the 1960s -- when most movies were in color and more people had colortelevision sets -- the vast majority of reported dreams contained color.The most likely explanation for this, according to philosopher EricSchwitzgebel, is not that exposure to black-and-white media made peoplemisremember their dreams. It is that we simply don't know whether or notwe dream in color. In Perplexities of Consciousness,Schwitzgebel examines various aspects of inner life -- dreams,mental imagery, emotions, and other subjective phenomena -- and arguesthat we know very little about our stream of conscious experience. In fact, hecontends, we are prone to gross error about our ongoing emotional, visual, andcognitive experiences. Westernphilosophical tradition is nearly unanimous on the accuracy of our knowledge orcurrent conscious experience. Schwitzgebel is skeptical. Drawing broadly fromhistorical and recent philosophy and psychology to examine such topics asvisual perspective, human echolocation (about which he is doubtful), and theunreliability of introspection even about emotional states (do we really enjoyChristmas? a family dinner?), he finds us singularly inept in our judgmentsabout conscious experience.