On Jun 14, 2:08 pm, Torgny Tholerus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > If the rock does *not* know anything, *but* the rock behaves as if it > knows it, then it is reasonable to say that "the rock knows it".
Ah, but of course it is *not* reasonable to say this. You account is an 'action-only' account. Consequently, it is 'reasonable' in such an account to say only that the rock *acts* in a certain way. You are falling into a massive category error in appropriating an outcome such as 'knowing', that supervenes on 'sensing', the prerequisite of action, to a partial 'action-only' account. Such 'action-only' accounts are abstractions mediated by mental constructs - they are *not* the reality to which they (partially) refer: if they were, such a reality would be posited as 'relating' in the absence of 'sensing', and thus 'knowing' would be cut out at the start. But ask yourself: are the semantics of a 'reality' that self-relates without self- sensing coherent? Can you 'react' to me without 'sensing' me? If not, then neither can the fundamental components on which you supervene. BTW, you are able to fall prey to such perceptual errors only because your own mental activity supervenes on a sense-action substrate, like the rest of us. Get used to it! David > Quentin Anciaux skrev:> 2007/6/14, Torgny Tholerus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > >> If a rock shows the same behavior as a human being, then you should be able > >> to use the same words ("know", believe", "think") to describe this > >> behaviour. > > > If the rock know something and it behaves like it knows it, then it is > > conscious. > > If the rock does *not* know anything, *but* the rock behaves as if it > knows it, then it is reasonable to say that "the rock knows it". > > -- > Torgny Tholerus --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---