Introduction Flashcards
What theory of mind does David Chalmers subscribe to
dualism: the mind and body are not identical and consciousness cannot be reduced to pure brain activity
distinguish between Chalmer’s easy and hard problems
Easy problems: Are about abilities and functions: we need only mechanisms to explain those. These are problems that we have not solved (perception, memory etc.) but in principle we know how to solve (even if we have not done yet).
The hard problem: Why and how do subjective experiences arise from objective brains (neural processes)? “Explaining the function doesn’t explain the experience”.
To what theory of mind does Daniel Dennett subscribe?
Materialism: all emergent phenomena, including consciousness, are the result of material properties and interactions in the brain
What are algorithms and how are they relevant to Dennett’s theory?
Algorithms are procedures that require no intelligence- it’s just a mechanical procedure. Chalmer’s states that these are what our minds are made of, “lots of little bits doing very rigid, ungraceful, inflexible things but when you put them in enough numbers and in enough ways” you essentially get consciousness.
The mind is a mechanism of interacting neurons.
What is Dennett’s opinion on the ‘hard problem?’
The hard problem arises from the false intuition that if we have explained perception, memory, attention, language, and all the other details, there still would be something left out – “consciousness itself” however, consciousness cannot be separated from function. He thinks the mind is a mechanism (of interacting neurons). And the hard problem is an illusion, What isn’t there, doesn’t have to be explained.
What is meant by qualia?
Individual instances of subjective conscious experience (i.e., pain of a headache, the taste of wine, or the perceived redness of an evening sky). The ‘what it is likeness’ of mental states or systems/beings.
What did Descartes contribute to the study of consciousness?
Descartes said we can doubt the existence of everything in the world, even our body. But we can’t doubt that we’re conscious. “I think, I am conscious, therefore I am”.
Why is consciousness interesting from an evolutionary standpoint?
Humans could survive with reflexes, why consciousness on top? What makes consciousness necessary? Also considering Mary the Color Scientist, there is more to consciousness than just a physical process in the brain. We can know all there is to the brain but we would still not experience qualia
