It Was So Revolting I Couldn't Take my Eyes Off It

Type: 
Budapest colloquium talks
Audience: 
Open to the Public
Building: 
Nador u. 15
Room: 
103
Tuesday, November 22, 2016 - 5:30pm
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Date: 
Tuesday, November 22, 2016 - 5:30pm to 7:00pm

I argue that certain mental states realise dialetheias. There is a well known psychological phenomenon (noted, for example, by Plato in the Republic) in which something is so repulsive that one is compelled to look at it. One is attracted and repelled. Prima facie, that is a contradiction. I argue that that is exactly what it is. This contradiction captures the phenomenological content of one’s experience, though this does not mean that the underlying brain states are themselves contradictory.