If you know ANYTHING about philosphy look here, I'm stuck on something.

[Mears]

Ok, when J.J.C. Smart is arguing for materialism, he uses a phrase called an after-image. I was wondering if anyone knows what it is. I have it narrowed down to 1. It is like the images you see after looking at something, like the spots and stuff you see after looking at a light or 2. It is the stored mental images you have after you look at something.

If anyone knows, I'd appreciate it.

 

[nd]

Since he's arguing for materialism, he probably believes the things we see do physically exist and are not just "virutal" in the sense of our minds.

I don't know what context he's using after-image in, but if I had to guess it's the last thing you mentioned.

Sorry I can't be of specific help, have you searched the web?

 

[Mears]

I've been searching the web for the past 6 hours, not to mention 3hrs last night. I hate phl. I knew I was getting in over my head when my advisor signed me up for this course and it is an honors section!

 

[nd]

Don't worry about it. In my opinion it's not your responsibility to learn the terminology that philosopher X uses if the instructor doesn't give you the material to learn from (and it's not readily available as you seem to indicate after searching the web).

You tried, what more can you do?

 

[Athanasius]

Its hard to say specifically what your instructor means by "after-image."

It could be that your teacher holds to a "tabula rosa" view of the human mind that argues against any "archetypes" or "ideals" that are universally human. His view may be that our mind only regurgitates what it observes in physical reality. The problem is, there is a "gap" to be crossed when dealing with material reality. In other words, your professor might be suggesting that I never really interact directly with reality but only with my perception of it. This perception is not, in a sense, even first hand knowledge because I am not really responding to reality but rather I am responding to the "after-image" that is left in my brain after the "gap" of perception occurs. For example, we perceive the universe as four dimensional and solid, but some would suggest that reality is far different, that really the universe is holographic.

Unfortunately, it is hard to say exactly what he means. If he is at all approachable, the best way is to find out is to try and ask him directly.

 

[atomicbomberman]

You might want to look at the platform of some of the enlightment philosophers.. like Kant and Hegel.

 

[nd]

I did research on Kant when I took philosophy, and I would've recalled "after-image" if he ever mentioned it probably.

 

[Talon]

Try this site. It's mentioned in the section "Phenomenal Properties and Topic-Neutral Analyses".Mind-identity