On 4/8/2012 5:52 PM, Quentin Anciaux wrote:
2012/4/8 meekerdb <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
On 4/8/2012 6:04 AM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
On Sun, Apr 8, 2012 at 6:30 AM, meekerdb<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
But is it an empirical question? What would it mean for
"neuroscience to
find zombies"? We have some idea what it would mean to find a
soul: some
seemingly purposeful sequence of brain processes begin without any
physical
cause. But I'm not sure what test you would perform on a zombie to
find
that it was not conscious. I think if we had a very detailed
understanding
of the human brain we might be able to study and intelligent robot
or a
zombie android at the same level and say something like, "This
zombie
probably experiences numbers differently than people." But if it
truly
acted exactly like a human, we wouldn't be able to say what the
difference
was. Of course humans don't all act the same, some have
synesthesia for
example. So we might be able to say this zombie sees numbers with
colors -
but this would show up in the zombies actions too.
It's not an empirical question since no experiment can prove that it
isn't a zombie. However, I think that the question can be approached
analytically. If zombies were possible then zombie brain components
would be possible. If zombie brain components were possible then it
would be possible to make a being that is a partial zombie;
That doesn't follow. It assmes that zombieness is an attribute of
components rather
than of their functional organization. There can obviously be zombie
(unconscious)
components (e.g. quarks and electrons) which when properly assembled produce
conscious beings.
I could only say you're right and you're wrong. Consciousness and being is "lived" as a
whole. From your own POV, you can't say "zombieness is an attribute of components rather
than of their functional organization", because you feel it.
I didn't say it. I said that was what Stathis argument assumed.
Whenever you say such thing, you can't be honest with yourself... that's not an
argument. It's just proper English
Brent
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