Exam 2 Flashcards
(21 cards)
According to Chalmers, what are the easy problems of consciousness? Why are they easy?
-They are difficult and challenging but we can see how science will someday answer these questions.
- They are solvable.
Examples: How can humans discriminate sensory stimuli and react to them appropriately? How does the brain integrate information from many different sources and use this information to control behavior? How can subjects verbalize their internal states?
According to Chalmers, what is the hard problem of consciousness? Why is it hard?
- It is a problem about how physical processes in the brain give rise to subjective experience.
- It has nothing to do with how you function.
- This is not solvable by science.
What is the explanatory gap?
The difficulty that physicalist theories of mind have in explaining how physical properties give rise to the way things feel when they are experienced.
What is the difference between qualitative and numerical identity?
- Qualitative Identity is a question of whether or not A’s FEATURES equal B’s FEATURES.
- Numerical Identity is a question of whether A IS B.
What is the question of personal identity?
- What is necessary and sufficient for Person A, at time t, to be identical to Person B, at some later time?
- For person A to be identical to person B is it necessary and sufficient to…
- have the same living bodies? (animalism)
- be the same soul? (soul theory)
- share a single memory of an experience (memory theory)
- be psychologically continuous (psychological continuity theory)
What is the difference between an accidental and an essential property?
- Accidental features is a question of which of your features could you exist without?
- Essential features is a question of which of your features you could NOT exist without.
What is animalism?
For Person A to be identical to Person B: it is necessary and sufficient for A and B to have the same living bodies.
What is soul theory?
For Person A to be identical to Person B: it is necessary and sufficient for A and B to be the same souls.
What is the memory theory of personal identity?
For Person A to be identical to Person B, it is necessary and sufficient for A and B to share a single memory of an experience.
What are the inconsistency and circularity objections to memory theory?
- The inconsistency objection to memory theory (Michael Jackson) is one where the first person has memories 1-20, the second person has memories 1-10, and the third person has memories 11-20. Person 1 and Person 2 overlap. Person 1 and Person 3 overlap. But Person 2 and Person 3 do not overlap. This violates the transitivity of identity. (A=B and B=C, therefore A=C)
- The circularity objection to memory theory is where you use the same person to what it is to be the same person. ( Explain what it is to be the same person, explain what it is to have the same memories, explain what it is to have the same memories and say they are had by the same person).
What is the psychological continuity theory of personal identity and how does it improve on memory theory?
For Person A to be identical to Person B, it is necessary and sufficient for A and B to be psychologically continuous. (To be part of a series of persons who are psychologically continuous–to share central desires and apparent memories of experiences)
- This brings about the One-to-Many objection with the Kate-Out, Kate-In, and Re-Kate example. Kate-In and Re-Kate are both psychologically continuous with Kate-Out but Kate-In and Re-Kate are two different people.
What is the brain theory of personal identity?
For Person A to be identical to Person B, it is necessary and sufficient for A and B to: (i) be psychologically continuous (ii) have the same brain.
- The objection to this theory is the Where is Joe example when you cut his corpus callosum.
How does teletransportation work? Is the person who enters the entry module of the teletransporter identical to the person who leaves the exit module according to (i) animalism, (ii) soul theory, (iii) psychological continuity theory, and (iv) brain theory?
- Teletransportation scans you and makes a copy of the information of how your atoms and everything is in that particular state. Then it destroys that matter and sends the information to the exit module which creates a new person, with new matter, according to the information sent to it.
- Animalism: No
- Soul Theory: Possibly
- Psychological Continuity Theory: Yes
- Brain Theory: No
(Brain Swap) Do you go with your brain? (Brain Split) Do you survive? (Teletransportation) Do you survive?
- Animalism: No; Yes; No
- Soul Theory: Possibly; Possibly; Possibly
- Memory Theory: Possibly; Possibly; Possibly
- Psychological Continuity Theory: Yes; Yes; Yes
- Brain Theory: Yes; No; No
What is Cartesian Dualism?
The belief that fundamentally, there are two kinds of things in this world: material and mental
What is Materialism?
The belief that fundamentally there is one kind of thing in the world: material.
What is Idealism?
The belief that fundamentally there is one kind of thing in the world: mental.
Is body swapping logically possible according to Cartesian Dualism?
Yes
Is body swapping logically possible according to materialism?
No
What two arguments for Cartesian Dualism were given in class? How would a Materialist respond to them?
- Argument 1: Body Swapping
- -1. Logically possible to swap bodies
- -2. If logically possible, then dualism is correct.
- -3. Therefore, dualism is correct.
- Argument 2: disembodiment
- -1. Logically possible to exist w/o body
- -2. If logically possible, then dualism is correct.
- -3. Therefore, dualism is correct.
- A Materialism would say it is not logically possible.
What two arguments for Materialism were presented in class?
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