Exam 2
Explain churchlands four arguments (reasons) in favor of reductive materialism
-humans have physical origins -animals have physical origins -mental events depend on brain events -animal science is getting better
What 4 things must we realize about the brain?
-the brain is not only in a body, but also in an environment -the mind is more than the brain -the line between "self" and "world" is fuzzy
Note other examples of one and the other. What, however, makes man and women unique among these one and the other relationships
-usually the other is oppressed by the one -the group being oppressed create their own subjective, except woman. They don't get to be put into a job, they stay dispersed among men
Discuss churchlands first two arguments for eliminative materialism?
1- if folk psychology had predictive power it might be true but it doesn't so it's false 2- folk psychology is a theory that is thousands of year old. Other theories that old have been shown to be false. Hence, it's likely their false too.
Explain nagels basic point about what it's like to be a bat
Bars and other animals do not experience life the way we do. There's something that it is like to be a bat that only a bat understands.
Explain what Beauvoir means by "existential ethics" and how it applies to women
Beauvoir existential ethic is that every individual woman will have to decide for herself what her femininity means to her
Why would a man never ask "what is a man"
Because men think being a man is both a positive thing and a neutral/standard thing
What does mills essay suggest regarding why race means as much of as little as it does to our own society?
Because race is not random. It does have some predictive power for us, which makes it matter to us.
Why must every reductionist "favorite strategy" fail
Because we do not know and have no foreseeable way to explain consciousness
How does eliminative materialism account for our failure to reduce "folk psychology"
Because you cannot reduce something that doesn't exist , only can eliminate it
Discuss what Beauvoir means by describing women as "relative" and "the sex"
By "relative" she means she's defined by the most important male in her life. For example a young daughter, her father, and an older woman, her husband. Men can think of themselves without woman, but but woman can not be regarded as an autonomous person. By "the sex" she is saying women are under much more pressure to be attractive
Why is reduction useful in other areas of inquiry but not with regard to the mind/body problem?
By breaking down it's parts, it's easier to understand the whole. Take complex things and break them down, it gives you more of an objective view. But when you try and break consciousness down, you lose the very thing you're looking for
What is the difference between eliminating materialism and reductive materialism?
Eliminating materialists disagree with reductive materialism because they argue folk psychology is false and misleading
What is folk psychology and some examples of "states"
Folk psychology is ordinary people describing how they feel Examples - beliefs, desires, fears, sensations, pain, joy, etc.
What would be a better way for John to think about the brain in his head and why?
He assumes he is the same as his brain. Clark believed John should look at his brain as a Martian rather than himself ( my brain is not me)
What is humes point regarding his own self?
Hume believes he possesses a complex, discontinuous self which constantly changes over time. He believes if he had no perceptions of any kind that he would cease to exist entirely, becoming a non-entity
Does this Buddhist idea of rebirth and responsibility seem consistent or inconsistent with locked ideas regarding responsibility? Explain.
Inconsistent. Locke says that awake Socrates isn't responsible for what sleeping Socrates does. The whole idea from the passage of Buddhism we read, was to say that even if we can't remember were still held responsible. They have opposing views on responsibility.
Discuss the importance of beauvoirs question, "what is a woman" (moral connotation)
It suggests we can objectively prescribe what a woman is to be like
If in the future, race predicts less and less about our futures, will it mean more or less to our sense of identity?
Less. Less predictive power= less sense of self More predictive power= more sense of self
What is reductive materialism (identity theory)
Mental states are physical states Mental events=physical events
What does nagels realism about the subject of domain imply about facts?
Nagel knows there are facts in the world he will never understand from their point of view
Explain nagels argument regarding the mind/body problem
Never reduce the mind to the brain. We can study a bats brain but we can't use that to figure a bats view.
Is one freed from the just punishment for evil deeds, and good rewards for good dead's, or when one is reborn into a new form with a different name? Give an example.
No, buddhism suggests that a person is not freed from responsibility for what they did in a past life. If I throw a stone into a pond, I effect the pond with ripples whether I remember it or not.
What does Mill mean by quace? In a society with quace, if someone asked me "what is your quace" would I have any reason to lie? Would the question "but what quace are you really" make sense in a society with quace? Why doesn't my quace mean more to me in a society with quace?
Quace is a contrast to race. No you'd have no reason to lie because it's random. It wouldn't make sense to ask because quace has no predictive power.
Explain the 3 stages of the strong AI view. Is Seattle a proponent or opponent of the strong AI?
Searle is an opponent; he is opposed to strong AI 1-the mind is like a computer program and the brain is like a central process unit which simply runs the program 2-the biology of the brain is irrelevant 3-the Turing test is the test for artificial intelligence
How do digital computers "work"? Why does this mean that machines will never think?
Searle thinks that digital computers are analogies to a series of on-off switches. Digital computers never attach meaning to the series of an on-off switch.
How should we conceive the environment?
The environment is not the problem, it's a resource for problems. Example : survival ; it's a tool to help solve problems, not a problem.
Explain searles parable of the Chinese room and what is it supposed to show
The parable of the Chinese room is that a human being could receive questions in Chinese, look those questions up in a book , and then return the answer in Chinese. So, computers are sophisticated matching devices, that don't attach meaning to the matches they make.
What should we say about physicalism/materialism? What should we not say? What is "mystical" about saying a mental state is a brain state?
The theory is nonsense because we have no theory for how that claim could be true. Nagel will not say that it's false because they don't even deserve it & it's mystical because it cannot be "closed"/ explained.
What have we learned about dolphins and their ability to swim?
They use currents and the moving waters
Contrast western and traditional African views of community
Western views believe individuals create communities, and traditional African views tend to believe community creates the individual
What is the first contrast between western notions of identity and traditional African views?
Western views believe that one can be a person even though one is all alone, however traditional African views believe that one can be a person only if one is a member of a community
What is the second point of contrast? Who has minimal/maximal views? Views on death?
Western views tend to support that you're either a person or you're not. African views tend to have the idea you become a person over time. Western views are more minimalistic while traditional after an views are more maximalist. Westerners also believe you're either dead or alive, however traditional African views believe you're alive, namelessly dead, or the living dead.
