2012-02-12T01:16:50Z http://philosophyofbrains.com/comments/atom.aspx Quick Blogcast tag:www.philosophyofbrains.com,2012-02-03:15848929 Edouard Machery 2012-02-04T00:11:45Z 2012-02-04T00:11:45Z Tony,<br /><br />Given what is happening in Hungary these days (extreme xenophobia, hatred of gypsies, authoritarian government), I think that we should consider boycotting this country. tag:www.philosophyofbrains.com,2012-01-31:15692168 Katrina Sifferd 2012-01-31T16:19:59Z 2012-01-31T16:19:59Z Hi - just send me an email (sifferdk@elmhurst.edu) and I'll send along a copy of the paper. tag:www.philosophyofbrains.com,2012-01-31:15685180 Preston Gowing 2012-01-31T06:33:19Z 2012-01-31T06:33:19Z could you please pass on the full paper to me. Thank you tag:www.philosophyofbrains.com,2012-01-30:15679295 Tennenrishin http://www.museful.net 2012-01-30T18:46:46Z 2012-01-30T18:46:46Z Here is a very long forum discussion of what I called the "Information Argument Against Physicalism" in my previous comment:<br /><a href="http://forums.philosophyforums.com/threads/an-argument-against-physicalism-38692.html">http://forums.philosophyforums.com/threads/an-argument-against-physicalism-38692.html</a><br />There is a lot of back and forth in this very long discussion, but if you have the time and patience to read through it you will notice the rare phenomenon of some physicalists beginning to see the light. tag:www.philosophyofbrains.com,2012-01-30:15679098 Tennenrishin http://www.museful.net 2012-01-30T18:30:48Z 2012-01-30T18:30:48Z Information Argument Against Physicalism:<br />Suppose I have a doppelganger. We each (subjectively) see a distinction between two universes that have the same (objectively considered) physical state. So my sentience gives me (private) access to information that is not stored in the physical universe. <br /><br />More verbose argument:<br /><a href="http://www.museful.net/2011/philosophy/the-information-argument">http://www.museful.net/2011/philosophy/the-information-argument</a> tag:www.philosophyofbrains.com,2012-01-26:15620953 gualtiero piccinini 2012-01-27T03:52:35Z 2012-01-27T03:52:35Z <span>thanks. i hope they are fixed now.</span> tag:www.philosophyofbrains.com,2012-01-25:15613155 Daniel Weiskopf 2012-01-25T15:40:18Z 2012-01-25T15:40:18Z Gualtiero, all of the links are broken in this. tag:www.philosophyofbrains.com,2012-01-15:15511044 John Gregg http://www.jrg3.net/mind/ 2012-01-16T01:18:50Z 2012-01-16T01:18:50Z Very, very briefly:<br /><br />To answer your last question first, yes, people draw a distinction between the philosophy of mind and the hard sciences, or at least some people do (see below). My own take on the situation is that for most of the 20th century, uttering the work "consciousness" would get you denied tenure. The orthodoxy of reductive materialism and its bedfellow, behaviorism, ruled academia. In the last few decades, however, there has been a thaw. The central divide these days is between the A team and the B team (not my terms).<br /><br />Daniel Dennett (Consciousness Explained, 1991 is his great book) is captain of the A team. These are the reductive materialists, who think that science, as currently conceived, is sufficient to answer all coherent questions about minds, and the more we discover about neurons, the more "philosophical" questions will melt away and be shown to be (merely) scientific questions. They like to point out that the phenomenon of life was once thought to be mysterious and fundamental, but eventually turned out to be (merely) a question of very fancy Darwinian engineering.<br /><br />David Chalmers (The Conscious Mind, 1996) is the captain of the B team. These people are often called dualists, although they rarely call themselves that. Let's call them qualophiles. They generally like science as far as it goes, but think that it can never, in principle, explain consciousness. They are compelled, with varying degrees of distaste, to take positions that are either overtly spooky and mysterious, or have some potentially spooky and mysterious implications. They are greatly impressed with "qualia" the raw feels of consciousness (hence the label "qualophiles"). Their gateway drug is the question, "what is it like to see red?"<br /><br />I myself am a qualophile, solidly on the B team. I expand on all of this and attempt to justify my positions here:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.jrg3.net/mind">http://www.jrg3.net/mind</a> tag:www.philosophyofbrains.com,2012-01-14:15485363 Anonymous 2012-01-14T23:54:11Z 2012-01-14T23:54:11Z Jennifer Mundale<br />Adele Abrahamson<br />Sabine Döring tag:www.philosophyofbrains.com,2012-01-14:15484602 Anonymous 2012-01-14T23:24:20Z 2012-01-14T23:24:20Z This is super. I might also add Brain's own contributor, Serife Tekin (Dalhousie).