[FRIAM] experience monism

[Prof David West]

The eloquence and perspicacity of Professor Thompson has convinced me to become an *Experience* monist. In my naive sophomoric enthusiasm I have set about writing THE definitive work on *Experience*. But I have a few questions ...

1) Is an *Experience* a whole or a composite? I.e., (scent of cinnamon)—(heat of oven)—(grandmother's smile) OR (scent of cinnamon) + (heat of oven) + (grandmothers smile)? Another analogy a single photograph or a Photoshopped collage?
   1A) If an *Experience* is is a composite- there must be 'atomic' *Experience* from which it is composed. Is it possible to *Experience* and "atomic *Experience*" in isolation?

2) Does an *Experience* have duration, or is each *Experience* akin to a frame of a film and continuity simply an artifact of being presented at some rate; e.g., 30 frames per nanosecond?

3) Can *Experiences* be differentiated as "potential" and "actual?" To illustrate: I turn on the camera on my phone and images pass through the lens and appear on the screen, but a photograph does not come into existence until I press the shutter button. Does something similar happen with experience? They are potential until I "press the conscious awareness button" at which point they become actual?

4) Can *Experiences* be categorized? To borrow vocabulary (somewhat tortured( from Peter Sjostedt-Hughes' pentad of perception;
 * *Experience* grounded in/originating from the spatio-temporal environment (Sensed Experience)
 * *Experience* of an atemporal quality, e.g., color or scent (Perceived Experience)
 * An *Experience* partly caused by an external physicality—e.g., motion of molecules partly causative of the *Experience* of heat (Ecto-Physical Experience)
 * An *Experience* that is partly caused by an internal physicality—e.g., synapses firing in the brain (Endo-Physical Experience)
 * *Experiences* not grounded in/originating from the spatio-temporal environment, e.g., imaginations (Demeteption Experience)
 * A sixth, of my own, a variation of Endo-Physical, where the internal physicality is "disrupted," e.g., by taking a drug.
5) Does *Experience* 'exist' apart from an experiencer?
    5A) if not, how can we have "common experiences"
    5B) if yes, do we not have a faux monism, with two metaphysical things: experience and experiencer?

6) Do *Experiences* persist? Perhaps as memories?
    6A) If yes, what exactly is the difference between an *Experience*-in-"memory" and one "being experienced?" Analogy to a computer program executing and the same program stored on disk.


I would have asked Professor Thompson these questions, but I fear he would have dismissed them as "tending not to edification."

davew

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