Questions tagged [philosophy-of-mind]
Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness, and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain.
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What are some problems or counterpoints to Oneness or Non-Dualism
I have a pretty decent understanding of what its proponents think, but I can’t seem to find anything criticizing the view as more places link back to pro-oneness sources. So in to get both sides of ...
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If some people don't have an internal monologue, is that a problem for arguments for the existence of other minds?
https://www.verywellmind.com/does-everyone-have-an-inner-monologue-6831748
All arguments in favor of the existence of other minds claim that other people have minds similar to my mind.
My mind is ...
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What would a possible solution to the hard problem of consciousness look like?
The hard problem of consciousness is stated as-
'why objective, mechanical processing can give rise to subjective experiences.'
The reason I ask this question is that if we do not even know what a ...
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Is the hard problem of consciousness a question about why a person, as an entity which can experience, exists?
The hard problem of consciousness is stated as-
'why objective, mechanical processing can give rise to subjective experiences.'
If we assume the universe to be a Turing machine, it appears to me that ...
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Has anyone ever claimed that if Daniel Dennett, or a like-minded person, did actually manage to explain consciousness, humans would be diminished?
Here's a link to a free, seemingly legal, PDF of an awesome book, Sweet Dreams by Dan Dennett. I finished reading it a day or two ago.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/...
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Is the simpler explanation is the most likely, the most convincing and the most plausible?
Is the simpler explanation is the most likely, the most convincing and the most plausible?
Occam's razor and abduction, on which inference to the best explanation is based, say that the simplest ...
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Is there a mathematical grounding for functionalism?
Take the sep definition of functionalism:
Functionalism in the philosophy of mind is the doctrine that what makes something a mental state of a particular type does not depend on its internal ...
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A newbie's highly thought-upon plan for starting philosophy [closed]
How's it going guys, I hope you're all having a great time!
Greetings, to all the great minds here!
I would really appreciate your help with my entrance to the infinite world of philosophy.
First, I ...
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Does gender identity require a dualist account of consciousness?
For the sake of argument, let us say that gender identity exists and is analytically and ontologically distinct from sex.
Let us also say that:
Gender identity is accessible through introspection, ...
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How do I know what I don't know?
I am not looking for a straight answer to this question but some references on how I should further investigate this problem.
Problem
Let us consider a person bob
When Bob makes a statement, he ...
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In line with Roger's Penrose argumentation, why is human mind not computable, when large language models are?
Roger Penrose famously from Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem, that human mind is not computable, because mathematical intuition is not computable (a mathematician can prove more than any formal system, ...
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Assuming philosophical zombies are possible, could one zombie have an inverted spectrum while the rest do not?
Philosophical zombies by definition (See Chalmers: https://consc.net/zombies-on-the-web/) lack qualia, while being normal human beings in every other way. Like normal humans, zombies make utterances ...
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Anthropomorphism and AI
The human brain and computer based AI are vastly different systems. Although both may perform similar functions, the mechanisms are different: one is purely electrical and assembled, the other is ...
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Do computers use logic?
I know we refer to computers as using logic, logic gates and the like, but is this just us ascribing human capacities to the machines? It sounds like a case of us giving more meaning to the machines ...
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Electron's behavior: A Solution to the Hard Problem of Consciousness? [closed]
In recent years, the hard problem of consciousness has been a subject of intense debate and discussion in the field of philosophy and cognitive science. Many researchers and scholars have proposed ...
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What is this model of the world where people keep on selling ego to you?
I just got some cold pressed vegetable drink. It is supposed to be healthy, but it also tastes awful. It is expensive too, near US$6 a 16 oz bottle, so it could have problems selling. Then I notice ...
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Church-Turing Thesis and the human brain
A question on my homework: Imagine that scientists discover that the behavior of the brain can be completely described by some mathematical function. Given the Church–Turing Thesis, would this ...
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Is an omniscient entity self-refuting?
Consider a thought experiment involving 'something' and three individuals attempting to understand it: one person claims it is a red ball, another asserts it is a simulation, and the third insists it ...
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Could there be higher level emergent phenomena from more complex systems with properties different from consciousness?
My original question may have been unclear. Most answers seem to miss my point. So I'll try to restate it.
Can you speculate about an entirely new higher level phenomena that might emerge from a ...
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Is there a middle ground between substance and property dualism?
I am trying to work out if there is a middle ground theory between substance and property dualism?
Substance dualism:
physical and mental domains are fundamentally different and separate substances ...
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Would the alleged nonexistence of qualia imply that it is meaningless to say that what I call "red" could be what you call "blue"?
This question is similar to (and following on from) but significantly different from this question: Who, if anyone did say it, was the first to say that because no qualia exist it is meaningless to ...
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Good literature on the implications of philosophy of mind for ethics?
It seems to me that positions in philosophy of mind have implications for ethics that most of the literature I have read does not explore. Some examples:
Does mental externalism imply torturing a ...
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What is the difference between understanding and interpretation?
What is the difference in the cognitive processes of understanding and interpreting an utterance (especially written discourse like a legal statute)?
What does a judge do when they interpret law; is ...
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Are sensations mind dependent?
Since Galileo, and continuing through Descartes and Locke, is the assertion that sense qualities only exist in the mind or the soul of perceivers and are not really out in the world. Berkeley also ...
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Explain how the Phenomenal Conservatism and Common Sense Privilege arguments works to justify belief in other minds
Please explain how the Phenomenal Conservatism and Common Sense Privilege argument works to justify belief in other minds.
Here it is written that it is used to justify belief in other minds, but I ...
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Can philosophical zombies think or love?
I read somewhere that philosophical zombies can think. However, I don't think that is true at all. I believe thinking and loving are mental states, and only conscious beings can have mental states. ...
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Does Freudian/Lacanian psychoanalysis drives toward irrationalism and low self-control?
Presentation:
According to Freudian/Lacanian psychoanalysis:
Human behavior is partly driven by the subconscious. The subconscious is a kind of psychological black box, inaccessible directly by the ...
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Can the product of creativity always be classified as analogy?
Without concepts there can be no thought, and without
analogies there can be no concepts.
—Hofstadter and Sander
Part of the creative process of a sculpter is to visualize a shape within a stone and ...
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How do philosophers understand intelligence (beyond artificial intelligence)?
Do philosophers have working definitions of 'intelligence'? The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy provides a lot of references, but all of them are related to artificial intelligence and other ...
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Why do people hide the assumption contained in the philosophical zombies question/idea?
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article called "Zombies" https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/zombies/ makes no mention of an assumption that seems to be hidden in the famous ...
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How do eliminativists and illusionists about consciousness justify use of scientific data?
The data ultimately comes into the scientists brain through his senses. He has to read the device, read the meter... read the computer screen... or something. If consciousness does not exist, or ...
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Who, if anyone did say it, was the first to say that because no qualia exist it is meaningless to say what I call "red" could be what you call "blue"?
There's a famous question that asks whether two people who agree that they are seeing a red object might be seeing (in their respective subjective experiences) different colors. For example, one is ...
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An argument against neural reductionism based on the necessity of abstract ideas
Reductionism in philosophy of mind is the view that mental phenomena, such as thoughts, emotions, and consciousness, can be reduced to, or explained solely in terms of, the physical or neurobiological ...
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Question about problems of universals
When we draw a general triangle, we're inclined to draw a triangle that's either right, or acute, or obtuse, but not the general triangle itself. Then how do humans know its existence?
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Does the computational theory of mind explain anything?
In science, when you theorize that X reduces to Y, you propose a theory that links X and Y in some causal way. Physicists don't just say, "What you experiences as a gas is really a swarm of fast-...
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What is meant by abstract concepts and concrete concepts? Aren't the former tautologous and latter contradictory?
There are two phrases that I had often seen in books but now after giving a deeper thought, I'm unable to wrap my head around them. These phrases are 'abstract concept' and 'concrete concept'.
The ...
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What philosophies will support the idea that smarter is better?
Whether its natural or artificial, intelligence is economically expensive for businesses thst need intelligence to provide a good or service (Is AI a good that provides a service?) . Given all the ...
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Turing's bridging argument of conflating mathematical logic and the philosophy of mind?
So I read this paper and I'll quote the relevant parts:
'Turing's machines are humans who calculate
On Computable Numbers' thus took on the
aspect of a hybrid paper: an attempt to integrate what ...
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Subjective and objective reality
I'd like to talk about two related ideas and ask which philosophers have talked about those.
The first idea is that the "subject", the I, has two fundamental aspects: I can experience things,...
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Union of Cosmopsychism and the Many Worlds Interpretation
My question relates to the following essay:
Cosmopsychism and the Many Worlds Interpretation: A Monistic Perspective on Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics
The essay explores the combination of ...
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I have seven steps to conclude a dualist reality. Which of these steps are considered controversial/wrong?
Step 1: We start by believing in the bare minimum : our own subjective experience exists. This is the only thing we know to exist. The existence of other things can only be inferred. And to deny your ...
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How is the term "existence" even defined for things other than your subjective experience?
Lots of philosophies talk about an objective world that exists outside of one's mind. Some philosophies even say that this objective world is the only thing that exists, and that subjective qualia are ...
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Are there any clear differences between the contributions of an AI bot and a human being to fora like Stack Exchange?
I perform the same tasks an AI Bot does when answering questions here: I go online and make sure that my answer can be validated online as a self-check. Is there a practical difference between me and ...
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Kant and the Ship of Theseus
Does Kant's philosophy of perception and intuition imply that the unity of perceived individuals is an intuition? If so, this seems to resolve the various paradoxes of physical individuals such as the ...
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How does representationalism respond to the "Mary's room argument"?
So here's Frank Jackson himself responding to his own argument using "representationalism":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPT0BE1WAHk
So as I'm understanding Frank's newer view... when ...
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To what extent can one admit that language is an adequate outlet for explicit feelings and experiencings?
If I am sharing my thoughts and another person goes “oh, that’s relatable,” or “yeah, I totally get it,” and other variations like “I feel you on that one!” Do they, really? Is language ever enough, ...
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Who are some philosophers who explore the possibility/impossibility of the intimacy of understanding others?
Can one ever be understood? When people say “yeah, I feel you” do they really? Is language enough of an outlet to transmit feelings with enough exactitude?
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Why did phenomenalism fall out of favour in analytic philosophy?
Modern analytic philosophy proposes various reductionist projects to reduce phenomenal terms (like redness e.t.c) into physical terms (like neural-states, functional states e.t.c) such as for example, ...
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How do we forgive our debtors?
Lord's prayer says:
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
In this sentence it seems assumed that we are capable to forgive "our debtors". I do not understand how we ...
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Who first came up with heterophenomenology, and when?
Dan Dennett, in his article "Who’s On First?
Heterophenomenology Explained" (https://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/dennett/papers/JCSarticle.pdf) says:
"In short, heterophenomenology is nothing ...