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Phil of Mind (Physicalism/materialism (:three: Functionalism (The Computer…
Phil of Mind
Physicalism/materialism
One way to get around the problems of Cartesian dualism is for minds to be made of physical matter. Three different physicalist approaches:
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:two: Identity theory
Thoughts are identical to a particular physical state of my body and brain. Reductionist: thoughts can be redescribed in terms of chemical reactions
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:three: Functionalism
Hilary Putnam answers the problems of Type Identity theory with Functionalism. He argued that we shouldn't characterise minds as what they're made of, but instead as :one: what they do (their function) and :two: what causes them,
This counters the problem of multiple realisability by allowing for vastly different physical entities to have similar psychological states such as pain, by observing similar functions of those mental states. In this approach, we define complex psychological states by whether the entity shows complex interactions with the environment
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The Computer Metaphor
Computers are defined by their physical function not their substrate, therefore computers could have minds
Turing Test: Turing argued that if a computer can fool a human into thinking that a computer is human, then that computer is by definition a complex mind. Mind is defined by function, and if a computer functions to engage in human communication, then it must have a mind.
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Problem 2: Too anthropocentric, as it's defining intelligence as what Humans do
Problem 3: It doesn't take into account the kinds of inner states within the computer which would distinguish intelligence from automaton behavior
A lookup table of responses that the computer should make would not seem like intelligence, as the computer only has knowledge of syntax of symbols and not semantics of symbols (aboutness/meaning). e.g. Chinese Room argument
David Marr proposes that understanding the brain amounts of understanding three levels:
- Computation : The task to be solved/why is it important?
- Algorithm: The specific method used to achieve the task
- Implementation: The physical instantiation of the algorithm
Functional analysis however fails to account for the experience of what it's like to have a mind. The subjective experience. #
Physicalism commits to the idea that if two entities are physically identical, then they must be psychologically identical
Scientific understanding of consciousness #
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Bistable images are useful to study:
- Same stimulus
- Different possible percepts
- Mutually exclusive at any one time
- The percepts spontaneously flip
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Cartesian Dualism
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problem of causation: if mind is immaterial, then how can a mind affect a physical body?
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To sort
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Cybernetics
Uses control theory to model internal processes, such that the control process generates behaviour. It requires a circular causality between body and environment.
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