Philosophy Quiz 2 Study Guide

Multiple realizability

"The property by which something can be realized in multiple ways and in different media." EX: Chess sets Chess pieces can be made of wood, plastic, ivory, metal, etc. Chess pieces can have various shapes

The basic beliefs of libertarianism

Rejects determinism Claims we have metaphysical freedom Concludes we are responsible for at least some of our actions.

General Position of physicalism

The theory that human beings can be explained completely and adequately in terms of their physical or material components. When we talk about the mind we are talking about brain activity

Eliminativism (type of physicalism)

A type of physicalism that denies the existence of a separate, nonphysical mind and discards all language that refers to mental events. Discards all talk of mental events, or "folk psychology" Example of "folk science": the ancient greeks gave mythological explanations of natural science. Talk of Greek gods and fate can't be translated into terminology of modern physics and has been discarded. Our mentalistic talk, inherited from a pre-scientific worldview, is misleading because it refers to non-existent entities. Talk only in terms of neurochemical events.

Identity Theory (one of the leading physicalists approaches to the mind today)

A type of physicalism that denies the existence of a separate, nonphysical mind but retains language the refers to the mind. Also called reductionalism. Mental states are identical to certain physical states of our bodies. If you want to understand what a mental state is, you need to look inside the human body and find the physical state that correlates with it. Typically, these turn out to be neural states. Ex: an identity theorist would identify a type of mental state, like rage, with a type of physical state, such as a certain pattern of neural activity. It is possible to reduce talk about beliefs, pain, desires to talk about brain states. Still ok to talk about beliefs, etc., but we need to "keep in mind the real object of our talk." Ex: Though we speak of the sun "rising" and "setting" we know that we are really talking about the rotation of the earth. What we need to know about the mind can eventually be discovered through brain research.

Agency Theory

A version of libertarianism that rejects both determinism and indeterminism; this theory claims that events are brought about by agents There are two kinds of operations in the world. Event causation and agent causation Event causation: Occurs when prior events necessarily causes a subsequent event. EX: solar eclipse, earthquake, boiling water, an acorn falling to the earth Agent causation: Any event that is brought about through the free action of an agent (person, self) EX: voting, choosing to see a particular movie, making a promise Events are originated, initiated, or performed by agents Agents are: substance, self mover, and initiator of action Rejects dichotomy "An event is either (1) the necessary outcome of previous cause or (2) an uncaused, random events that simply happen."

The basic beliefs of hard determinism

Accepts determinism Requires metaphysical freedom for moral responsibility Denies that we have metaphysical freedom We are determined to make choices we do and thus do not have genuine alternatives Concludes we are never morally responsible for our actions

Searle's Chinese room experiment

According to American philosopher John Searle, simulating a conversation is not the same thing as having a conversation. To prove this point, he asks us to imagine that we have invented a computer to simulate a conversation in Chinese convincingly Next, we need to imagine taking this program and writing it down as a set of instructions that a human could follow. Finally, we give these instructions to a human who does not understand Chinese and we put them in a special room.

The general position of Cartesian Dualism ( including how the mind and body interact)

Also known as interactionism or substance dualism Adds to the dualistic thesis the claim that the mind and body, through different, causally interact with one another. Also known as Substance dualism There are 2 kinds of foundations: mental and physical. States that the mental can exist outside of the body and the body cannot think.

Circumstantial vs. metaphysical freedom

Circumstantial freedom Involves freedom. The freedom I have when no obstacles prevent me from carrying out the action I have chosen. "It is a negative condition because it means we are free from external forces, obstacles, and natural limitations that restrict or compel our actions. In this sense, you would not be free to go to the movies if you were tied up or if someone was holding a gun to your head (external forces)." Metaphysical freedom Involves choice. Freedom to have chosen otherwise than I did. I choose among genuine alternatives. Ex: Though I choose A, I had a genuine option of choosing B Relates to my internal condition rather than to my external circumstances.

Chalmers' Position

Consciousness and subjective experiences clearly exist It is impossible to identify consciousness with or to reduce it to physical processes in the brain so, it is likely that consciousness is a fundamental feature of reality, which is irreducible to any other physical processes However, physicalism claims that scientist can ( or will be able to in the future) reduce consciousness to physical processes Therefore, physicalism is false.

The general position of Functionalism

Denies that minds are identical to a particular kind of substance. " A philosophy that claims that the mind is characterized by particular patterns of input-processing-output."

Descartes' Compromise

He divided reality into two separate territories (mechanistic science and religion) One part was made up of physical substances that can be studied by science and explained by mechanistic principles. This part of the universe is a giant clocklike mechanism. All events in this realm are determined by the laws that physicists discover The other part of reality consist of mental or spiritual substances. Our minds are free to think and will as we wish because mental substances are not governed by mechanical laws. In this way, persons (unlike their bodies) have genuine free will. EX: if you jump into a swimming pool, the falling of your body is governed by the laws pf nature (gravity). Your decision to make that jump, however, is freely chosen and cannot be explained by physics.

Phineas Gage (page 83 of textbook)

He was a foreman supervising railroad construction. Due to an explosive accident, a large metal rod shot through his head and removed a portion of his brain. After he recovered from his injury he had a different personality. " The Phineas Gage who was a likable, gentle, intelligent man became someone who was mean, undependable, slow-witted dolt." Physicalists conclude that this alteration in Gage's mind is explained by the state of his brain.

Soft-determinism.

One particular type of compatibilism Denies that circumstantial freedom is enough for moral responsibility Even if all our actions were determined, we would have some sort of freedom necessary for moral responsibility This is because metaphysical freedom is not required for moral responsibility Concludes that we are morally responsible at least some of the time. Is a compatibilist position that accepts that determinism is true

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 processes while acknowledging that computers only simulate mental activities.

The basic beliefs of compatibilism

The position that determinism is compatible with moral responsibility Holds that we are morally responsible even if determinism is true Metaphysical freedom is not required for moral responsibility

Ockham's Razor (named after William of Ockham, the 14th-century thinker who formulated it)

The principle motivating the quest to simplify our understanding of what reality has come to be The principle states that we should "shave" off all unnecessary entities and explanatory principles in our theories. Physicalism is superior due to Ockham's razor Cartesian dualism posits non-physical mind as the explanation of mental events But we can account for mental events in terms of brain events. So, the hypothesis that there is a non-physical mind is an unnecessary explanatory principle and thus should be discarded. Example: missing sock theory on page 85 of textbook

Turing test

To test a computer's linguistic understanding, we see if we could reliably tell it apart from a human speaker just by talking to it. In 1950 Mathematician Alan Turing proposed that we could tell if a computer can understand some language by seeing if it is functionally indistinguishable from a speaker of that language

Sartre's libertarianism and the associated terms

We are 100% free and 100% responsible Existence comes before essence I exist first (birth) I develop my essence as I make choices I have metaphysical freedom to build my identity Facticity Applies to features of our lives we are not free to choose and which seem to set limits on us EX: we do not choose our parents, the culture we are born into, or our physiological traits. However, these freedoms do not detract from our freedom, because we invest them with meaning according to how we deal with them. We decide what significance they will have for us. Transcendence Our ability to define ourselves by our possibilities and all the ways in which each of us is continually creating our own future in terms of our choices, our plans, our dreams, and our ambitions. We transcend what we've been or done in the past We are always creating ourselves Even when thrown into situations we didn't create we are free to choose how to respond. Bad Faith We act in bad faith when we deny our freedom and our responsibility for who we are. EX: when we fail to acknowledge that we have possibilities and choices.