Discussion/game questions

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT a problem associated with reductive materialism?

a) multiple realizability

b) identity problem

c) brain damage problem

Answer 1

c

Question 2

Standpoint theory challenges the notion of ?

Answer 2

objective and neutral knowledge

Question 3

Kuhn offered a different view of how science developed. He reasond science developed:

Answer 3

non-linearly, nor gradually (aka no cumalitive knowledge or the positivist stand of progress)

Question 4

In Paul Feyerabend’s epistemological anarchism, the phrase “anything goes” means?

Answer 4

That there are no fixed rules for doing science (or there shouldn’t be)

Question 5

‘How can the soul of man, being only a thinking substance, determine his bodily spirits to perform voluntary actions?’ (Lyons, 2001: 25)

What is this problem called?

Answer 5

The interaction problem

Question 6

The Problem of Induction is to positivism as _ is to falsificationism

Answer 6

the quine-duhem thesis

Question 7

“The respect for science in current Western society is nothing more than the reverence people in the Middle Ages felt for the Catholic Church”.

Who would have agreed with this statement?

Answer 7

Feyeraband (a literal quote of his)

Question 8

What is the identity-problem (as of the game, not the book)?

Answer 8

How can two different events be experienced as the same (as they have different brain correlates). As their are unlimited different coding experiences, how does the brain know that different codes refer to the same stimulus

Question 9

Would a reductionist materialist find dissolving of your original copy (after teleportation) murder?

Answer 9

Yes, as reductionist assume that all that you are is your body in full, both copies would be the exact same and as such it would be murder

Question 10

How can the influence of logical positivism be seen in behaviourism?

Answer 10

Variables = observable behaviour (and non-observables, mental states, should be avoided)

Question 11

The robot build that taught itself to walk has a chip that stores all the information, however, transferring this chip does not mean the new robot automatically knows how to walk. To which thought experiment from the book does this relate?

Answer 11

Mary > as it states she will still learn something about the colour red if she goes outside to actually perceive it (aka experience adds knowledge)

Question 12

“I have noticed that students often start studying too late for exams (rude btw). What follows from this is that students only get to work once the deadline is near”

Is this inductive or deductive reasoning? + how would a logical positivist test this?

Answer 12

Induction (conclusion drawn based on observation)

Experiment that verifies the conclusion (too lazy to write it out)

Question 13

Why did the verification principle fail?

Answer 13

Because of the induction problem

Question 14

Which three steps do logical positivist’s take when testing something?

Answer 14

Observation > induced conclusion > verification

Question 15

What would Popper think of NHST?

Answer 15

It does not falsify H1, you only know the probability that H0 is true and thus that there is an alternative explanation (not really H1)

Question 16

What would a post-modernist have to say about QRPs increasing false-positive results?

Answer 16

Scientific knowledge is just a social construct; the author can use QRPs to construct their own version of knowledge