ABSTRACT
Thecollapseoftheuniversalapplicabilityoftheveryideaofmomentary physicalstatesfurnishesuswiththephysicalbackgroundforatheorythat regardsconsciousnessasextendedintime.(Thisextensionisoftencalled 'thespeciouspresent'.)Indeed,wecouldnotsee(orreactto)coloursifour
..dff.174consciOusnessconststeoasequenceostnctymomentarystates. Thisgivesalsoanindicationofwhythetraditionaldistinction(which
goesbacktoParmenides'TwoWays)betweenprimaryandsecondary qualitieshastobeabandoned.Spatiallyextendedphysicalsurfacesare morethanmereaccumulationsofpoint-particlessincetheyinteractwith lightasgridsdo(thatis,inaholisticmanner)75andarethereforephysical wholesextendedintimeaswellasspace.Moreorlessthesameholdsfor allprocessesthatformtheobjectivephysicalbasisoftheso-called'secondaryqualities'.Theseprocesses-theinteractionofsurfaceswithlight (wherecolour-invariantpropertiesandotheropticalpropertiesofthe surfacesbecomeimportant)- areas'primary'incharacter,fromaphysical pointofview,asthe(temperature-dependent)molecularprocessesthat determinetherigidityandtheshape-invarianceofsolidmaterialsystems. Similarly,experiencesofobjective'primary'and'secondary'qualitiesarealso quiteofthesamecharacter:bothkindsofexperiencesdependonthe interpretationorthedecodingbyanorganismofphysicalprocesses(signals)inwhichtheorganismisusingtheoriesdiscoveredbyprocessesof selectionratherthaninstruction.Perhapsitwouldbebesttospeakof physical('primary')processesandofthecorrelatedmental('secondary') processes.
