Qualia (Part 2): What Do We Most Intimately Know

In this second episode of a four part series, I start by exploring a little bit of epistemology. What is it that we most intimately know? What piece of knowledge am I most intimately aware of when I see an apple? The actual physical object 'the apple' or my conscious experience of the apple? Many philosophers would argue that we are most aware of the apple of our consciousness (the qualia) and only secondarily aware of the physical object that is the apple. What consequences does this have for our scientific understanding of the world? Are qualia the most fundamental pieces of our epistemic reality? To counteract this point, I look at the work of that naysayer of the mental, Daniel Dennett.