philosophy of mind | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Ep. 223: Guest Ned Block on Consciousness (Part Two)

August 19, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

We talk with Ned about a second Blockheads (2019) article, Michael Tyle’s “Homunculi Heads and Silicon Chips: The Importance of History to Phenomenology,” which provides a variation off of the David Chalmers fading qualia argument, and then Mark, Seth, Dylan, and Wes continue exploring the details uncovered by our interview after Ned leaves.

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End song: “Your So Dark Sleep/Goodbye” by The Black Watch, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #102.

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Ep. 223: Guest Ned Block on Consciousness (Part One)

August 12, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 5 Comments

The climax and denouement of our summer philosophy of mind series: Ned Block visits to fill in the gaps about functionalism and attributing consciousness to machines and discuss essays from Blockheads (2019), focusing here on Brian McLaughlin’s “Could an Android be Sentient?”

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Please go check out Modern Day Philosophers at moderndayphilosophers.net and See You on the Other Side at othersidepodcast.com. Also, subscribe to Mark’s Pretty Much Pop at prettymuchpop.com.

Ep. 223: Guest Ned Block on Consciousness (Citizen Edition)

August 12, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

The climax and denouement of our summer philosophy of mind series: Ned Block visits to fill in the gaps about functionalism and attributing consciousness to machines. We discuss two essays from Blockheads (2019): Brian McLaughlin’s “Could an Android be Sentient?” and Michael Tye’s “Homunculi Heads and Silicon Chips: The Importance of History to Phenomenology.”

End song: “Your So Dark Sleep/Goodbye” by The Black Watch, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #102.

Ep. 222: Debating Functionalism (Block, Chalmers) (Part Two)

August 5, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

Continuing on Ned Block’s “Troubles with Functionalism” (1978) and David Chalmers’s “Absent Qualia, Fading Qualia, Dancing Qualia” (1995).

What would it be like to be halfway between person and machine? If you think the machine can’t have consciousness, then Chalmers thinks that there’s no sensible way to describe such an experience, ergo the machine (if functionally equivalent to the person) must have consciousness after all.

Listen to part one first, or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

End song: “Machine” by Helen Money as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #101.

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Ep. 222: Debating Functionalism (Block, Chalmers) (Part One)

July 29, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

On Ned Block’s “Troubles with Functionalism” (1978) and David Chalmers’s “Absent Qualia, Fading Qualia, Dancing Qualia” (1995).

If mental states are functional states, there couldn’t be zombies. Yet Block claims that there could be zombies: for example, a functional duplicate of you whose components are actually citizens of China obeying algorithmic rules. Even if the resulting system acts like you, it obviously isn’t conscious. Chalmers argues that you’d then need to explain the experiences of a creature half way between you and the zombie, but you can’t, so Block’s argument doesn’t work and functionalism is left standing. What do you think? Do you hate weird thought experiments like these?

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Ep. 222: Debating Functionalism (Block, Chalmers) (Citizen Edition)

July 28, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

On Ned Block’s “Troubles with Functionalism” (1978) and David Chalmers’s “Absent Qualia, Fading Qualia, Dancing Qualia” (1995).

Chalmers argues that you’d then need to explain the experiences of a creature half way between you and the zombie, but you can’t, so Block’s argument doesn’t work and functionalism is left standing. What do you think? Do you hate weird thought experiments like these?

End song: “Machine” by Helen Money as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #101.

Ep. 221: Functionalist Theories of Mind (Putnam, Armstrong) (Part Two)

July 22, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 7 Comments

Continuing on functionalism with David M. Armstrong’s “The Causal Theory of the Mind” (1981).

We delve into this version of functionalism that is supposed to clear the way for the scientific identification of mental states with brain states. Mental states are defined by their causal relations with other states and with behavior, and the content of a mental state is exhausted by its intentional object, e.g., the content of a perception is the thing you’re perceiving that (normally) causes the perception. So what about things like colors and sounds that aren’t really out in the world? Can functionalism explain how these seem to us?

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End song: “Pain Makes You Beautiful” by Jeff Heiskell’s JudyBats, as featured on Nakedly Examined Music #5.

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Ep. 221: Functionalist Theories of Mind (Putnam, Armstrong) (Part One)

July 15, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 5 Comments

On Hilary Putnam’s “The Nature of Mental States” (1973).

What is the mind? Functionalist theories identify the mental not with the brain exactly, but with something the brain does. So some other creature without a brain (maybe a computer) might be able to do that same thing if it could duplicate the structure of what our brains do. Is this a satisfying account of the mind?

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Sponsors: Visit omnifocus.com for a free trial of a great to-do list manager. Visit the St. John’s College Graduate Institute: partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi. Check out our new culture/entertainment podcast, Pretty Much Pop, at prettymuchpop.com.

Ep. 221: Functionalist Theories of Mind (Putnam, Armstrong) (Citizen Edition)

July 15, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

On Hilary Putnam’s “The Nature of Mental States” (1973) and David M. Armstrong’s “The Causal Theory of the Mind” (1981).

End song: “Pain Makes You Beautiful” by Jeff Heiskell’s JudyBats, as featured on Nakedly Examined Music #5.

Ep. 219: The Harder Problem of Consciousness (Block & Papineau)

July 1, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 11 Comments

On Ned Block’s “The Harder Problem of Consciousness” (2002) and David Papineau’s “Could There Be a Science of Consciousness?” (2003).

What would give us sufficient reason to believe that a non-human was conscious? Block thinks this is a harder problem that we might suspect. We can’t know for sure exactly what consciousness in us is, so we can’t know for sure what such a being might require (a brain? certain patterns of behavior?) for them to be enough like us that we could safely apply our own experience of our own conscious states to them. Papineau diagnoses this as a fundamental vagueness in the concepts we use to describe our conscious states.

This conversation continues from ep. 218, with guest Gregory Miller from the Panpsycast still with us.

End song: “Mindreader” by Phil Judd as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #98.

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Ep. 219: The Harder Problem of Consciousness (Block & Papineau) (Citizen Edition)

June 30, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

On Ned Block’s “The Harder Problem of Consciousness” (2002) and David Papineau’s “Could There Be a Science of Consciousness?” (2003).

This conversation continues from ep. 218, with guest Gregory Miller from the Panpsycast still with us.

End song: “Mindreader” by Phil Judd as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #98.

Ep. 218: The Hard Problem of Consciousness (Chalmers, et al) (Part Two)

June 24, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

Continuing on “Consciousness and Its Place in Nature” by David Chalmers (2003).

We finish Chalmers’s account of the types of physicialism, then move on to dualism (including epiphenomenalism), and finally dally with panpsychism, the specialty of our guest, Gregory Miller from the Panpsycast.

Listen to part 1 first or listen to the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

End song: “Georgia Hard” by Robbie Fulks, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #36.

Sponsor: Visit the St. John’s College Graduate Institute: partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi.

Ep. 218: The Hard Problem of Consciousness (Chalmers, et al) (Part One)

June 17, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 26 Comments

On “Consciousness and Its Place in Nature” by David Chalmers (2003), with special guest Gregory Miller from the Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast.

Can we explain human experience using the terms of brain physiology? Chalmers thinks not, and lays out the arguments against this and the range of positions philosophers have taken in response to these objections.

Continues on part two, or get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!

Sponsor: Visit thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service.

Ep. 218: The Hard Problem of Consciousness (Chalmers, et al) (Citizen Edition)

June 15, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

On “Consciousness and Its Place in Nature” by David Chalmers (2003), with special guest Gregory Miller from the Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast.

End song: “Georgia Hard” by Robbie Fulks, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #36.

REISSUE-Ep. 21: What Is the Mind? (Turing, et al) w/ New Intro

June 10, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Discussing articles by Alan Turing, Gilbert Ryle, Thomas Nagel, John Searle, and Dan Dennett. What is this mind stuff, and how can it “be” the brain? Can computers think? What is it like to be a bat? With guest Marco Wise.

Plus a new intro by Mark, Wes, and Seth reflecting back on this 2010 discussion, which we’re re-releasing to help you prepare for our upcoming episodes in this area.

End Song: “No Mind” by Mark Lint and the Fake Johnson Trio (1998).

Episode 179: William James’s Introspective Psychology (Part Two)

December 25, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 7 Comments

Continuing on Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892), completing “The Stream of Thought” and covering the chapter on “Habit.”

James thinks that psychologists focus too much on those parts of consciousness that get picked out by substantive words. He describes habit as part of a general natural pattern in which things that happen once tend to create pathways for themselves in surrounding material to allow the same thing to happen again more easily. Be careful what you do, because your organism is recording all of your bad behavior and corrupting your character!

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End song: “Drowning Mind (feedback overload)” by AMP, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #57.

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Episode 179: William James’s Introspective Psychology (Part One)

December 18, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

On The Principles of Psychology (1890) chapters 1 & 7, and Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892), the chapters on “The Stream of Thought,” “Habit,” and some of “The Self.”

Can we talk about the mind in a way that is both scientific and also does justice to our everyday experiences? James thought his method, which involved both introspection and physiology, yielded more accurate descriptions of the mind than associationism (the mind is made up of ideas) or spiritualism (the mind is a faculty of the soul). Consciousness is a stream, not a concatenation of ideas!

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Ep. 179: William James’s Introspective Psychology (Citizen Edition)

December 17, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

On The Principles of Psychology (1890) chapters 1 & 7, and Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892), the chapters on “The Stream of Thought,” “Habit,” and some of “The Self.”

End song: “Drowning Mind (feedback overload)” by AMP, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #57.

Episode 153: Richard Rorty: There Is No Mind-Body Problem

December 5, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 11 Comments

On Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979), Part I: “Our Glassy Essence.”

“The mind” seems to be an unavoidable part of our basic conceptual vocabulary, but Rorty thinks not, and he wants to use the history of philosophy as a kind of therapy to show that many of our seemingly insoluble problems like the relation between mind and body are a result philosophical mistakes by Descartes, Locke, and Kant. With guest Stephen Metcalf of Slate’s Culture Gabfest podcast.

End song: “Wall of Nothingness” from Sky Cries Mary from This Timeless Turning (1994). Listen to Mark’s interview with the band’s frontman, Roderick Romero, in Nakedly Examined Music ep. 9.

Ep. 153: Richard Rorty: There Is No Mind-Body Problem (Citizen Edition)

December 4, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments