Privileged Access

Do we have any reason to believe that other people’s mental experiences are similar at all to our own? If I see a green tree, will someone else perceive the greenness in the same way I perceive it? If I ask them what color they perceive the tree, they would tell me they see it as green, the same color as grass or moss. But what if their mental perception of green was identical to my perception of red? Would their be any way for me to tell?

Taking this idea further, how do I even know that my own percept of green is constant from one instant to the next. When I compare my green with my recollection of past greens, I am forced to recall my previous perception of green. It is possible that during the act of recall the quality of greenness has changed from what it was previously. In the present moment what I perceive as green may have seemed red before. I wouldn’t know because I have no direct access to my previous mental image, I can only recall a memory which may be evolving over time. The permanency of qualitative mental features could very well be an illusion played on me by my current mental state.

Not only do I only have access to the mental representations in my own mind, I am also only limited to access of the present. I think therefore I am, not I thought therefore I was.