Philo exam 2

Eliminativism

also version of physicalism that denies separate non physical mind. difference is does not talk about mind is meaningful. Mind should be eliminated in favor of a physiological vocabulary.

How would you answer this same question? Offer support for your position.

answer the way you like.

Agency theory

argument for libertarianism - some events cause by agents (agent causation) -some events happens as a result of previous events (event causation)

Multiple realizability

- multiple ways to represent a specific property.

General position of Cartesian dualism (including how mind and body interact)

- named after Descartes - Mind and body are seperate. - We are essentially our minds and our bodies are the machines.

Describe Robert Harris' crime.

- on the way to commit a robbery Stole car and kills 2 teenagers ,who he saw eating in jack in the box parking lot, at another location. drove car to gf's house. eat the boys burger and laughed how he killed two boys and how it would be funny to tell their parents as a police officer that their children were dead and robbed a bank and soon after got arrested

Physicalism

- self is identical to you or the product of the activities of the body or brain. - there is no non physical aspect of a person

Physicalist objections to dualism

- where would interaction takes place . brain have spatial location . mental events do not -how does this interaction occur. .physical events occur by force . product of F=m.a .non-physical acts dont have mass and motion -what about conservation of energy? .the amount of conservational energy in a closed physical system remains constant . has new energy entered world when your body is affected by a mental act? - what about the success of brain science? . ockham's razior

Circumstantial vs. metaphysical freedom

Circumstantial : the ability and opportunity to perform which ever action you choose. metaphysical freedom: freewill, circumstances affect our choices but we ultimately decides.

How would the hard determinist, the libertarian, and the compatibilist answer the question 'Was Harris morally responsible for his action?"

Hard Determinist: he is not morally responsible Libertarian : somewhat responsible Compatibilist : is responsible

Explain the central beliefs and reasoning of each position.

Hard determinist:his early life caused him to act like that. Libertarians: depends on which way they lean. compatibilist: he chose to act that way.

Strong vs. weak AI thesis

Strong AI: the claim that an appropriately programmed computer really is a mind. Weak AI: the claim that AI research may help us understand human mental process while acknowledging that computers only simulate mental activities.

What was his childhood like, and how might that have contributed to his action?

born 3 months early due to father brutally beating mother beaten by both parents father broke his jaw when he was 2 father stabbed him in hand with fork at dinner table gun "hide and seek" father arrested for sexually molesting daughters harris served 3 years juvenile detention for car theft was brutally beaten and raped in jail convicted on voluntary manslaughter in 1975b and parole in 1978.

Functionalism

brain is hardware, mind is software. mind is not a separate substance. believe in mental events mental events are not identical to brain events.

4. Describe Robert Harris' crime. What was his childhood like, and how might that have contributed to his action? How would the hard determinist, the libertarian, and the compatibilist answer the question 'Was Harris morally responsible for his action?" Explain the central beliefs and reasoning of each position. How would you answer this same question? Offer support for your position.

follow

basic beliefs of hard determinism, libertarianism, and compatibilism

hard determinism: .you do not have metaphysical freedom . we are not morally responsible .all events are necessary events of previous causes libertarianism: .we are morally responsible for at least some of our actions. .metaphysical freedom .reject determinism compatibilism: .accept determinism .morally responsible for all our actions .rejects metaphysical freedom.

Sartre's libertarianism

i exist first. i develope my essence through choices i make i have metaphysical freedom to build my identity

Searle's Chinese room experiment

man outside sends the chinese words man inside doesnt know chinese and can transates man outside cant tell they are not speaking with a chinese speaker. - just cause computer translates does not mean it understands.

1. Summarize the basic position of mind-body dualism. State Descartes' Argument from Divisibility. How would a physicalist use the example of Phineas Gage to attack this argument? State and explain one or two objections (we have studied) that the physicalist would make against Descartes' account of interaction between mind and body. Do you think that Descartes can successfully answer these objections? Why or why not?

mind is separate from body. mind is yourself essentially and body is the mechanism that yourself controls. Descartes' argument from Divisibility-body is divisible and mind is indivisible, therefore they do not have the same properties so they are not identical. Phineas Gage's case where an injury affected his personality showed that an impact on the body can affect the mind, which shows that they are not entirely separate. Objections: -conservation of energy: no energy is introduced by the mind -success in brain science disproves the dualism because if body didn't affect mind, personality couldn't be affected by medication -descartes can't really answer because he had no experience in these areas

Ockham's razor

principle that we should shave off all unnecessary entities and explanatory principles in our theories . Ockham's Razor is the principle of parsimony or simplicity according to which the simpler theory is more likely to be true.

Turing test

test to see if we can distinguish computer from human when communicating.

Identity theory

version of physicalism talk about the mind is meaningful because it can be translated into talk about brain states. denies theres is a separate non physical mind.