Can virtual reality help us to “walk in the shoes” of other people? Optimists claim that VR is the “ultimate empathy machine”, a way for those who have never been to war, or lived in solitary confinement, to know what it is like to have these experiences from the comfort of their living room. Pessimists hold that it is absurd and dangerous to think that VR could be a way of acquiring this kind of ‘what it is like’ knowledge. In this paper I develop a position which can accommodate the important insights of the pessimist’s critique, whilst also allowing us to agree with (a qualified version of) the optimist’s claim that VR can help us to acquire ‘what it is like’ knowledge. This position is based on recent work I have done showing how ‘what it is like’ knowledge comes in different grades and degrees.
Monday July 6, 2026 3:00pm - 3:55pm AEST Steele-262
