Exam 3: HW Questions
What point is Descartes trying to make with the example of the wax? Please give his argument.
1) All the wax's sensible properties could change and so all of the information our senses provide could be different 2) Yet we could still know that it is an extended physical object 3) Therefore: Our knowledge of what the wax is does not come from our senses
What is a category error? Give an example of one.
A category error is one in which an action or quality is assigned to something that could only have that quality or action if in another category. For example: one cannot group "the university" in the same category as the library, the soccer fields, and the cafeteria. These are all physical buildings that make up the university.
How does the example of the Chinese room prove his point?
If the strong AI pass the Turing test it means that they understand. The Chinese room passes the Turing test because it's outputs of Chinese make sense, but the person in the room doesn't actually understand what he is saying in Chinese.
What is Searle's argument against strong AI?
Just simulating human behavior is not enough, by itself, to have a mind. One must have the right sort of brain too.
Is the person speaking at the beginning of the story the same as the person speaking at the end? Which one is the real Dennett?
My opinion
Does Nagel think we can be aware of facts without being able to express or understand them? Explain your answer and give an example.
Nagel thinks we can be aware of facts without being able to understand them. We can know physical facts, which are ones independent of POV; however, we do not know conscious facts, that are dependent of POV.
What is Nagel's main point?
Nagel's main point is that it is difficult to debate consciousness. This is because the more objective you get (move away from subjectivity) the less we understand it. Since consciousness is based on how it appearance, we need to use how it appears to us.
What category error does the Official Doctrine make?
The Official Doctrine makes the category error by stating that there are nonphysical, mental events and physical and that they interact. The category error is that the interaction between the two can neither be physical nor nonphysical. Yet that interaction must exist in order for the Official Doctrine to work.
How does the example of the bat help Nagel make his point?
The example of the bat helps him because the bat's experience is specific to himself. We may understand it objectively, but we would never understand it how the bat does, which is subjectively.
Does the narrator of this story know whether or not he is a computer? Why or why not?
The narrator does not know whether or not he is a computer because he has not detected a difference.
What is the Official Doctrine?
There are two kinds of events, mental events (which are recorded in the 1st person omniscient narratives) and physical events (which are recorded in scientific journals) There are interactions between mental evens and physical events
