Philosophical arguments physicalism

Question 1

Nagel’s argument

Answer 1

what it is like to be a bat?
only a bat knows what it is like to be a bat
phenomenal experiences (qualia) are subjective

Question 2

why Nagel’s argument is not fatal for physicalism?

Answer 2

he is optimistic: let’s wait and see. we lack concepts

Question 3

Chalmers’ zombie argument

Answer 3

Zombies are physical and functional duplicates of us but without phenomenal consciousness.
If zombies don’t have qualia, qualia don’t have any causal or explanatory role in the behaviour of zombies.
Zombies are exactly the same as us, so we don’t have qualia.
Everything zombies do can be explained in physicality terms. in our world, there is something more than physical, phenomenal consciousness.
Therefore, physicalism leaves qualia out and can’t be the correct view of the conscious mind.

Question 4

why the zombie arg is not fatal for physicalism?

Answer 4

based on intuition and too many anti-scientific conclusions

Question 5

what is Jackson’s knowledge argument?

Answer 5

there are actually non-physical facts in the world, so physicalism is incorrect
example with Mary the super-scientist
however, if mary knew all the physical facts about colours, if she was presented with a blue banana, she would know that that is not yellow.
it was an intuition

Question 6

what is the problem with the knowledge argument?

Answer 6

demand on theory is too strong

Question 7

what is McGinn’s cognitive closure argument?

Answer 7

we are not smart enough to understand the relationship between consciousness and the physical world.

Question 8

what is the problem with the cognitive closure argument?

Answer 8

The Natural Method
= look at all disciplines and combine them

Question 9

the explanatory gap

Answer 9

we can’t explain how phenomenal consciousness fits in the physical world in physical terms