Evan Urquhart

@transphilosophr I believe it is something that can be understood and quantified. Like everything in the natural world.

@v_urq Um...no.There is no such thing as a "pain-meter" - we cannot empirically detect pain with a scientific instrument - we rely on report

@transphilosophr Eh, oversimplification. We know (roughly) how the nervous system works, and animal brains/bodies respond to "pain" stimuli.

@v_urq We understand pain behavior but we do not understand the conscious experience of pain. Responding to pain =/ pain itself

@transphilosophr Consciousness is a phenomenon that is not perfectly understood yet. Are you saying it cannot be and neither can transness?

@v_urq I'm saying consciousness is an unbovservabe yet very real psychological phenomenon that can be operationalized. Same for gender ID

@transphilosophr I don't necessarily believe that anything is unobservable. By me on the street, sure. But not inherently so.

@v_urq Quarks cannot be directly observed. We see their effects in bubble chambers but we cannot directly observe a quark