DOCSLIB.ORG

Philosophy of Mind SS05 University of Osnabrueck

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Philosophy of Mind SS05 University of Osnabrueck apocalyptic visions miniscript Philosophy of Mind SS05 University of Osnabrueck Florian Halbritter [[email protected]] http://www-lehre.inf.uos.de/˜fhalbrit July 2, 2005 1 2 Prologue This document represents my attempt for a summary of the lecture. It is a compilation of the lecture slides and some additional information gained from literature and personal considerations. I neither claim this overview to be complete nor flawlessly correct. If you notice any mistakes and/or feel an urge to utter any (constructive) criticism, contact me via email at [email protected] Feel free to distribute this document amongst your friends. Good luck, Florian Halbritter Osnabrueck, July 2, 2005 CONTENTS 3 Contents 1 Introduction 4 2 Theories 5 2.1 Folk Psychology . 5 2.2 Semantic Physicalism . 6 2.3 Identity Theory . 6 2.4 Functionalism . 8 2.5 Computational Theory of Mind . 9 2.6 Emergentism . 10 2.7 Eliminative Materialism . 12 3 Levels of Analysis 13 4 Animals and Beliefs 14 5 Phenomenal Qualities 15 6 Emotions 16 4 1 INTRODUCTION 1 Introduction Methods: • by ourselves (introspection) • by others • by modelling artificial minds Central topics: • characteristic features of the mental • mind-body problem = relation between the mental and the physical • intentionality and phenomenal consciousness • emotions • freedom of will Typical kinds of questions: • metaphysics/ontology: Which entities exist (mental ones?)? What is the real nature of an entity x? How do certain entities relate (mind-body)? Do certain entities possess a causal power? Can we reduce mental entities to physical ones? • epistemology: What is and how can we gain knowledge? What kind of knowledge is accessible to us? Knowledge of our own mind (problem of privileged access) vs. mental states of other people (other minds problem) How can I be sure that other beings experience mental events, too? Can I be even sure about my own ones? • semantics: What is the meaning and reference of the expression e (i.e. of certain mental concepts)? How do we learn this? • methodology: What methods are available to study certain phenomena? Do purely philosophical means suffice or do we have to consider e.g. findings from neuroscience, too? 5 – methodological behaviorism – cognitive/computational approach – neuroscientific approach – introspection 2 Theories 2.1 Folk Psychology Folk Psychology = The basic knowledge people have (or think to have) about the mind. Referred to as the basis of the prediction and explanation of behavior in our everyday lives. Vocabulary: beliefs, desires Advocacy: Jerry Fodor, Aristotle Predictions and explanations are based upon the assumption of rationality and truthfulness! Reasoning done by some kind of practical syllogism1. Where does the knowledge of our mind / other people’s minds come from? • Introspection (Descartes, Wundt, James) introspection = non-inferential access to one’s own mind, first-person mental state ascriptions are incorrigible and infallible • Methodological (Psychological) Behaviorism (Watson, Skinner) Claim: A correct methodology should be concerned with observable and objective measures (i.e. behavior) →it may not refer to mental states + introspection is an scientifically improper approach BUT: meth.beh. does not state that there are no mental states with a privileged access which may be described in out common-sense con- cepts • Logical (Philosophical) Behaviorism / Semantic Physicalism (Ryle, Hempel, Carnap) Claim: Beliefs and desires inhering in an unobservable mind do not exist. These terms actually refer to publicly observable events, i.e. in dispositions to behave in a certain way 1desire + belief = action, compare to the classical/ theoretical syllogism: assump- tion/observation1 + a/o2 = conclusion 6 2 THEORIES →since beliefs and intentions are not internal they cannot be revealed by introspection (cont. in next section) 2.2 Semantic Physicalism Semantic Physicalism = It is possible to define every mental expression in terms of behavioral and physical expressions Advocacy: Ryle, Hempel, Carnap, Wittgenstein Focused on the question, how to analyze and understand the vocabulary we use to talk about mental states. →rules out any kind of dualism or pluralism (’unity of science’) →(Hempel, Carnap:) the meaning of any sentence is captured by observ- able, physical circumstances which verify it (positivist translatability), i.e. anything can be expressed without a loss of content in a physicalist language (translated to and/or defined in terms of) →(Wittgenstein, Ryle:) most philosophical problems are caused by linguis- tic and conceptual confusion and therefore solved by careful analysis Modern physicalism is behavioristic. Consciousness is either a special type of behavior or a disposition to behave in a certain way. Objections to Semantic Physicalism: • infinity of explanation: trying to define mental predicates in a solely physical language is an infinite endeavor • infinity of qualifications: qualifications themselves entail mental concepts and we therefore run into a cycle 2.3 Identity Theory Identity Theory = Reductive Physicalism or Materialism = Every mental property is identical with some physical property. Every mental predicate denotes a physical predicate. Advocacy: Place, Smart, Armstrong, Feigl Preconditions of identification (”A is B”): • the identity somehow follows from the meanings of A and B 2.3 Identity Theory 7 • the statement can philosophically informative only if it is in same way reductive • note that the reference of two things can be the same, whereas their sense is not! (cp. the ’morning star’) Arguments pro identity theory: • Smart: Everything in the world is describable in terms of its physical con- stituents, so why should consciousness be something over and above these? Saying that mental states are correlated to brain processes does not help. • Kim: – decrease of the number of entities →improves ontological sim- plicity – can help conceptual or linguistic simplicity, i.e. while men- talistic vocabulary might be indispensable in practice, it does not describe anything but the facts described by a physical language – decrease of the number of lawlike correlations Arguments contra identity theory: • Putnam: Pain is not a physicochemical brain state but a functional state of a whole organism. Argument: In order to allow identification, a cross-racially shared brain state for pain had to be determined (and even one for all other mental states), which is extremely unlikely. – countered by Local Reduction (Kim): The pain of every species can be reduced to a physical property Pi and similarly for other species • Kripke: Objection in terms of logics in possible worlds. Rigid designators are names that denote the same entities in all these worlds. Propositions are necessarily true, iff they are true in all worlds. Four kinds of truths: – necessary, a priori (e.g. ’all bachelors are unmarried’) – contingent, a posteriori (e.g. ’ten years ago there was no CogSci program in Osnabrueck’) 8 2 THEORIES – necessary, a posteriori (e.g. ’Peter Bieri = Pascal Mecieri’) – contingent, a priori (e.g. ’I am now here’) To make the identity theory true, we require necessary truth. There- fore ’pain’ and ’brain state’ have to be rigid designators. However, we can conceive circumstance under which ’pain’=’brain state’ is not true and these circumstances cannot be explained away as illusions, ergo the identity statement cannot be true. 2.4 Functionalism Functionalism = Mental states are in fact functional states characterized by their causal role (i.e. the relation between inputs and outputs) Advocacy: Block Types of functionalism: • functional analysis (considered with decomposing complex systems into their subcomponents and explaining the working of the whole in terms of the relations amongst these parts) • computation-representation functionalism (mental processes are decomposed to atomic parts, psychological states represent the world in a language of thought, mental processes are computations using those representations) • metaphysical functionalism (theory of the nature of mind, con- cerned with what mental states are and not with how they account for behavior) →mental states are inner causes of behavior characterized by – input clauses – output clauses – interaction clauses • machine functionalism (computer functionalism) typically referring to some kind of Turing machines (i.e. simple automata that relate inputs via a machine table to other states or to outputs) →rules from the transition table can be mapped to Ramsey sentences of the form ∃x1∃x2TSystem(x, x1, x2). These sentences can be used to define the concept of a System and the functional states. • causal-role functionalism 2.5 Computational Theory of Mind 9 • functional states as a causal role or as the bearer of that role? Functionalism stays ontologically neutral (so it does not take a physical- istic side, i.e. it does not say how functional states are realized) Problems for functionalism: • strange realizations (Block): We might have an artificial system behaving just like humans do (e.g. by completely mirroring the human brain). Instead of a computer, this simulation might be run by the whole population of China, too. However, this seems very unrealistic... • how to specify inputs and outputs • intentionality and the problem of understanding (Searle) • qualia – inverted spectrum – absent qualia 2.5 Computational Theory of Mind Intentionality = The power of the mind to be about, to represent or to stand for something Brentano: • intentional phenomena are directed towards something different
Load more

Recommended publications
  • An Analysis of Qualitative Feel As the Introspectible Subjective Aspect of a Space of Reasons
    An Analysis of Qualitative Feel as the Introspectible Subjective Aspect of a Space of Reasons Michael James Stuart Beaton Submitted for examination in the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Sussex, April, 2009 Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be submitted, in whole or in part, to this or any other University for the award of any other degree. Signature: ................................................ An Analysis of Qualitative Feel as the Introspectible Subjective Aspect of a Space of Reasons Michael James Stuart Beaton Summary This thesis presents an analysis of qualitative feel (‘qualia’), based on a Sellarsian ‘space of reasons’ account of the mental. The first non-introductory chapter, Chapter 2, argues against an over-strong phenomenal realism (the claim that inverted spectra, zombies, etc., are at least conceptually possible), and against the modern phenomenal concept defence of such claims. Nevertheless, it is agreed with the proponents of these views that we must allow for introspective knowledge of our qualia, if we are to take qualia seriously at all. It is therefore proposed that we allow our search for qualia to be guided by some independently plausible theory of introspection. In Chapter 3, Shoemaker’s account of introspection is presented, extended in certain respects, and defended against some current objections. Chapter 4 is used to argue that Shoemaker’s current account of qualia can only be made compatible with his account of introspection by paying certain very high costs (which Shoemaker is aware of, but seems willing to pay). However, it is also argued that Shoemaker’s account of qualia has some attractive features, which can be preserved.
    [Show full text]
  • The Inverted Spectrum Sydney Shoemaker the Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 79, No. 7. (Jul., 1982), Pp. 357-381
    The Inverted Spectrum Sydney Shoemaker The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 79, No. 7. (Jul., 1982), pp. 357-381. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-362X%28198207%2979%3A7%3C357%3ATIS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-F The Journal of Philosophy is currently published by Journal of Philosophy, Inc.. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/jphil.html. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. http://www.jstor.org Wed Apr 4 09:58:34 2007 THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY VOLUME LXXIX, NO. 7, JULY 1982 THE INVERTED SPECTRUM* s best I can determine, the idea of spectrum inversion made its first appearance in the philosophical literature when A John Locke, in the Essay, entertained the possibility that "the same Object should flroduce in several Men's Minds different Ideas at the same time; v.g.
    [Show full text]
  • QUALIA: What It Is Like to Have an Experience
    QUALIA: What it is like to have an experience Qualia include the ways things look, sound and smell, the way it feels to have a pain, and more generally, what it's like to have experiential mental states. (‘Qualia’ is the plural of ‘quale’.) Qualia are experiential properties of sensations, feelings, perceptions and, more controversially, thoughts and desires as well. But, so defined, who could deny that qualia exist? Although the existence of subjective experience is not (or anyway should not be) controversial, ‘quale’—which is more clearly a technical term than ‘subjective experience’ is more often used by those who are inclined to reject the common-sense conception of subjective experience. Here is a first approximation to a statement of what is controversial: whether the phenomenology of experience can be exhaustively analyzed in intentional, functional or purely cognitive terms. Opponents of qualia think that the phenomenology of an experience can be exhaustively analyzed in terms of its representational or intentional content (“representationism”); or that the phenomenology of experience can be exhaustively analyzed in terms of its causal role (“functionalism”), or that having a subjective experiential state can be exhaustively analyzed in terms of having a state that is cognitively monitored in a certain way or accompanied by a thought to the effect that I have that state. If we include in the definition of ‘qualia’ the idea that the phenomenology of experience outruns such intentional, functional and cognitive analyses, then it is controversial whether there are qualia. This definition of `qualia' is controversial in a respect that is familiar in philosophy.
    [Show full text]
  • The Logic of Qualia 1 Introduction
    The Logic of Qualia Drew McDermott, 2014-08-14 Draft! Comments welcome! Do not quote! Abstract: Logic is useful as a neutral formalism for expressing the contents of mental representations. It can be used to extract crisp conclusions regarding the higher- order theory of phenomenal consciousness developed in (McDermott, 2001, 2007). A key aspect of conscious perceptions is their connection to the distinction between appearance and reality. Perceptions must often be corrected. To do so requires that the logic of perception be able to represent the logical structure of judgment events, that is, to include the formulas of the logic as objects to be reasoned about. However, there is a limit to how finely humans can examine their own represen- tations. Terms representing primary and secondary qualities seemed to be locked, so that the numbers (or levels of neural activation) that are their essence are not directly accessible. Humans feel a need to invoke “intrinsic,” “nonrelational” prop- erties of many secondary qualities — their qualia — to “explicate” how we compare and discriminate among them, although this is not actually how the comparisons are accomplished. This model of qualia explains several things: It accounts for the difference between “normal” and “introspective” access to a perceptual module in terms of quotation. It dissolves Jackson’s knowledge argument by explaining what Mary learns as a fictional but undoubtable belief structure. It makes spectrum in- version logically impossible by providing a degree of freedom between the physical structure of the brain and the representations it contains that redescribes putative cases of spectrum inversion as alternative but equivalent ways of mapping physical states to representational states.
    [Show full text]
  • Zombies and the Function of Consciousness Owen Flanagan
    © 1 9 9 5 P o l g e r a n d F l a n a g a n Zombies and the Function of Consciousness Owen Flanagan Departments of Philosophy, Psychology, and Neurobiology, Email: [email protected]. and Thomas Polger Department of Philosophy, Email:[email protected], Box 90743 Duke University, Durham, NC, 27707, USA.* Abstract: Todd Moody’s Zombie Earth thought experiment is an attempt to show that ‘conscious inessentialism’ is false or in need of qualification. We defend conscious inessentialism against his criticisms, and argue that zombie thought experiments highlight the need to explain why consciousness evolved and what function(s) it serves. This is the hardest problem in consciousness studies. 1. Conscious Inessentialism Conscious inessentialism is “the view that for any intelligent activity i , performed in any cognitive domain d , even if we do i with conscious accompaniments, i can in principle be done without these conscious accompaniments.”1 Among other things, conscious inessentialism forces questions about the function, and thus the adaptiveness and evolutionary significance, of consciousness. This is because conscious inessentialism just is the claim that consciousness is not metaphysically or logically necessary. It is * The order of authors follows alphabetical convention. Authorship is completely equal. 1 Flanagan, O. Consciousness Reconsidered. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992), 5. 1 © 1 9 9 5 P o l g e r a n d F l a n a g a n not necessary in all possible worlds where creatures who are functionally equivalent to us exist. But consciousness did emerge in this actual world—possibly among many species.
    [Show full text]
  • Wittgenstein and Qualia1
    Philosophical Perspectives, 21, Philosophy of Mind, 2007 WITTGENSTEIN AND QUALIA1 Ned Block New York University (Wittgenstein, 1968) endorsed one kind of inverted spectrum hypothesis and rejected another. This paper argues that the kind of inverted spectrum hypothesis that Wittgenstein endorsed (the “innocuous” inverted spectrum hypothesis) is the thin end of the wedge that precludes a Wittgensteinian critique of the kind of inverted spectrum hypothesis he rejected (the “dangerous” kind). The danger of the dangerous kind is that it provides an argument for qualia, where qualia are (for the purposes of this paper) contents of experiential states which cannot be fully captured in natural language. I will pinpoint the difference between the innocuous and dangerous scenarios that matters for the argument for qualia, give arguments in favor of the coherence and possibility of the dangerous scenario, and try to show that some standard arguments against inverted spectra are ineffective against the version of the dangerous scenario I will be advocating. The leading idea of the paper is that an argument for qualia based on spectrum inversion does not require that the inversion be behaviorally indistinguishable. At one crucial point, I will rely on a less controversial version of an argument I gave in Block (1999). Wittgenstein’s views provide a convenient starting point for a paper that is much more about qualia than about Wittgenstein. 1. Introduction The content of an experiential state can often be described in public language partly in terms of qualities of objects that bear some salient relation to the state, for example, “looks red” or “feels like sandpaper” or “smells rotten”, but it is the contention of this paper that public language terms including terms for such properties of objects do not fully capture the contents.
    [Show full text]
  • The Inverted Spectrum
    The Nature of Consciousness Handout [19] Sydney Shoemaker: The Inverted Spectrum JeeLoo Liu § The Goals 1. To argue for the logical possibility of spectrum inversion. 2. To defend functionalism against the arguments from inverted spectrum. 3. To give a functionalistic analysis of qualia. § Qualia and Functionalism "Qualia": ___ The qualitative or phenomenal features of sense-experience, in virtue of which they resemble and differ from each other, qualitatively, in the ways they do. "Functionalism": ___ Mental states are definable in terms of their causal relations to sensory inputs, behavioral outputs, and other mental states. * The Claim (made by others): ___ Qualia are not functionally definable, as seen from the possibility of qualia inversion. But qualia are real; thus, functionalism is insufficient. § Note: Block and Fodor's Arguments against Functionalism: (from Shoemaker, 'Functionalism and Qualia') [A] The Inverted Qualia Argument ___ 1. It is possible that every person does, in fact, have slightly different qualia. ___ 2. If (1), then qualia inversion is also possible. ___ 3. But nothing would be a token of the type 'red sensation' unless it is a quale of red sensation. ___ 4. So in cases of qualia inversion, the two functionally identical states that are felt differently cannot be states of the same type. ___ 5. And yet, under functionalism, those two states would be of the same type. ___ 6. Therefore, functionalism is false. [B] The Absent Qualia Argument 2 ___ 1. Under functionalism, it is possible that two functionally identical states do not share a given qualitative content. ___ 2. If it is possible that two functionally identical states do not share a given qualitative content, then it is also possible that only one of them has a qualitative content.
    [Show full text]
  • A Puzzle About Further Facts∗
    A Puzzle about Further Facts∗ Vincent Conitzer Duke University Abstract In metaphysics, there are a number of distinct but related questions about the existence of “further facts”—facts that are contingent relative to the physical structure of the universe. These include further facts about qualia, personal identity, and time. In this article I provide a se- quence of examples involving computer simulations, ranging from one in which the protagonist can clearly conclude such further facts exist to one that describes our own condition. This raises the question of where along the sequence (if at all) the protagonist stops being able to soundly conclude that further facts exist. Keywords: metaphysics, philosophy of mind, epistemology. Case A. Fonda has just attended an inspiring department colloquium. On her way out, she absent- mindedly takes a wrong turn and wanders into a computer lab. She approaches one of the computers. ∗This paper appears in Erkenntnis (DOI: 10.1007/s10670-018-9979-6) and is also available as arXiv:1802.01161. 1 On it, a simulation of a number of humanoid agents in a virtual universe is being run. The perspective of one of these agents—call it Alpha—is continuously displayed on the monitor. Fonda is enthralled and continues to watch from Alpha’s perspective. Because Alpha takes a large variety of interesting actions in the simulated universe, it does not take Fonda long to learn the laws of physics governing it. Moreover, Fonda—whose undergraduate degree was in computer science—can easily imagine how one would write the code for simulating the environment according to these laws.
    [Show full text]
  • The Content of Consciousness: Do We Need Qualia?
    Kaleidoscope Volume 9 Article 23 November 2011 The onC tent of Consciousness: Do We Need Qualia? Sara Copic Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/kaleidoscope Part of the Philosophy of Mind Commons Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits you. Recommended Citation Copic, Sara (2010) "The onC tent of Consciousness: Do We Need Qualia?," Kaleidoscope: Vol. 9, Article 23. Available at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/kaleidoscope/vol9/iss1/23 This Summer Research and Creativity Grants is brought to you for free and open access by the The Office of Undergraduate Research at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Kaleidoscope by an authorized editor of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Spotlight On Summer Research and Creativity Grants Sara Copic phenomena) must be accounted for without invoking other The Content of Consciousness: kinds of substances. Thus, while substance dualism (the idea that there are physical and mental substances which have Do We Need Qualia? different and mutually exclusive properties) is out, property Philosophy is the practice of coming dualism is still in the game. Hence, both an intentionalist and a to understand that with which we believe phenomenist could be property dualists, holding the view that we are most intimately familiar – our mental properties (thoughts, beliefs, phenomenal experience) social norms, the golden rule, learning, are fundamentally irreducible to their physical realizers (Heil our consciousness (to name just a few). Of course, there is 177). Since qualia preclude functional, cognitive, or intentional a sense in which we are all familiar with and understand characterization, they must, if they exist, supervene on these consciousness: we experience it in our normal waking life.
    [Show full text]
  • Hoffman's ''Proof'
    Consciousness and Cognition Consciousness and Cognition 15 (2006) 48–50 www.elsevier.com/locate/concog Commentary Hoffman’s ‘‘proof’’ of the possibility of spectrum inversion q Alex Byrne a, David Hilbert b,* a Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, USA b Department of Philosophy, Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience, University of Illinois at Chicago, 601 S. Morgan Street, Chicago, IL 60607-7114, USA Philosophers have devoted a great deal of discussion to the question of whether an inverted spectrum thought experiment refutes functionalism. (For a review of the inverted spectrum and its many philosophical applications, see Byrne, 2004.) If Hoffman is correct the matter can be swiftly and conclusively settled, without appeal to any empirical data about color vision (or anything else). Assuming only that color experiences and functional relations can be mathematically represented, a simple mathematical result—the Scrambling Theo- rem—shows that color experiences can be permuted while keeping functional relations constant, thus con- tradicting functionalism. It will be helpful to illustrate Hoffman’s argument with a very simple example. Suppose that there are two color experiences—experiences of red (state R) and experiences of green (state G), and that the functionalist identifies R with functional state FR, and G with functional state FG. A person can only be in one of these functional states at any particular time. According to the functionalist, then, it is impossible for R to obtain without FR, and vice versa. First, let us put the functionalist theory into the format of the Scrambling Theorem, using Hoffman’s nota- tion, and ‘R,’ ‘FR’, etc., to stand for mathematical surrogates for the experiences and functional states.
    [Show full text]
  • Wittgenstein Versus Zombies: an Investigation of Our Mental Concepts
    Chapter 22 Wittgenstein versus Zombies: An Investigation of Our Mental Concepts Edward Witherspoon 22.1 Introduction We human beings perceive our environment; we reflect on what we perceive; we have desires; we form intentions and act on them. All this mental activity is accompanied by what philosophers call ‘consciousness’, or the subjective experience of thinking. This is what it’s like to sense, reflect, desire, intend, and act. There is a distinctive inner feeling that goes with craving chocolate ice cream, and another that goes with seeing a purple armchair, and another that goes with wondering whether the weather will clear this afternoon. I can be sure that I have consciousness, and I naturally suppose that the people around me do too. But some philosophers have argued that it is possible for there to be a creature that looks, acts, and talks just like a human being, but that lacks consciousness. They have appropriated the term ‘zombie’ as the name for such a hypothetical being. There is something that it is like to be me—a way my experience feels—and there is something very different that it is like to be a bat, but there is nothing it is like to be a zombie. A zombie is all dark inside. To make this possibility vivid, imagine a twin who is a molecule-for-molecule duplicate of you. It is logically possible, according to these philosophers, that your twin could lack the consciousness that you possess. In similar fashion, we can imagine a ‘zombie world’, viz., a world that is like ours in every physical respect, where every particle of matter is just as it is in our world, but in which there is no consciousness.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:1802.01161V1 [Physics.Hist-Ph] 4 Feb 2018 Aea
    A Puzzle about Further Facts∗ Vincent Conitzer Duke University Abstract In metaphysics, there are a number of distinct but related questions about the existence of “further facts”—facts that are contingent relative to the physical structure of the universe. These include further facts about qualia, personal identity, and time. In this article I provide a se- quence of examples involving computer simulations, ranging from one in which the protagonist can clearly conclude such further facts exist to one that describes our own condition. This raises the question of where along the sequence (if at all) the protagonist stops being able to soundly conclude that further facts exist. Keywords: metaphysics, philosophy of mind, epistemology. arXiv:1802.01161v1 [physics.hist-ph] 4 Feb 2018 Case A. Fonda has just attended an inspiring department colloquium. On her way out, she absent- mindedly takes a wrong turn and wanders into a computer lab. She approaches one of the computers. ∗This paper will appear in Erkenntnis. 1 On it, a simulationof a number of humanoidagentsin a virtual universe is being run. The perspective of one of these agents—call it Alpha—is continuously displayed on the monitor. Fonda is enthralled and continues to watch from Alpha’s perspective. Because Alpha takes a large variety of interesting actions in the simulated universe, it does not take Fonda long to learn the laws of physics governing it. Moreover, Fonda—whose undergraduate degree was in computer science—can easily imagine how one would write the code for simulating the environment according to these laws. Then, she has the following thought.
    [Show full text]