What else is there to consciousness apart from experiences?
The ability to process those experiences. Memories. Self-awareness as distinct from otherness. Granted, we could claim that each of these is a form of experience... but given the definition of qualia, what ISN'T a quale? Qualia is too broad a term to be of any use at all.
Consciousness obviously can exist, whether qualia is a useful term or a chimera. Aside from which, even if we accept the existence of qualia - which most of us don't - that simply means that consciousness is a specific set of certain types of qualia, doesn't it? Not that qualia and consciousness are equatable. It's like saying that fruit salad and dessert are equatable... that dessert IS fruit salad IS dessert.... Wrong.
Allow me to put it another way. What would it mean to not have any experiences i.e qualia, but be conscious?
Now, as I understood it until today, qualia referred specifically to sensory information; I had not heard the term applied to memory or thought or sensation other than by the senses. In which case, consciousness without experiences would be nothing more than sensory deprivation. However, if qualia is also supposed to refer to thoughts, memories, etc... then if we accept the existence of qualia, we have to concede qualia would be necessary components of consciousness. However, once again, equating the two would be meaningless.
However, as I understand it, there is a subtle but significant difference between qualia and experiences. We might easily agree that two sighted persons experience a red flower, but might not know for sure if the alleged raw 'quale' of redness were the same. But in this case, qualia are irrelevant, yet again - too broad in category and too ill-defined to be of any use or interest.
