Study Questions Drs. Deutsch and Mallon

Mind

1. In class, we discussed a triad of propositions:

(1) Folk psychology explains by reference to meaningful or contentful mental states.

(2) Meaningful or contentful states are ‘not in the head’.

(3) Whatever explains our behavior is inside our skin.

It turns out these three propositions are inconsistent. Explain how you think this inconsistency should be resolved.

2. Externalism about meaning seems to undermine the view that we know what our own thoughts and words mean at least as well as anyone else. Do you think this argument is successful?

3. What makes the symbol ‘hamburger’ mean hamburger? A not so implausible view is that the symbol means hamburger just in case there are the right sorts of causal connections between hamburgers and instances of the symbol. What’s missing in the Chinese Room system are precisely these causal connections between symbols and the world. But if we were to add them, perhaps the system would be truly describable as a thinking system. In any case, Searle’s thought experiment does not show that the system, modified in this way, would not think." Assess this reply to Searle’s Chinese Room Argument.

4. Searle thinks that one cannot artificially reproduce intelligence unless one can artificially reproduce "the causal powers of the brain". What are "the causal powers of the brain" supposed to be? Doesn’t the brain-simulator reply to the Chinese Room Argument imagine an artificial brain that duplicates a natural brain’s causal powers? Why then does Searle reject the brain-simulator reply?

5. The Chinese Room system can pass the Turing Test for intelligence—there is no way to tell, from the outside, that the system is not a genuine thinker. All of the evidence that I appeal to when characterizing you as a thinker, is evidence that is reproduced in the case of the Chinese Room system. So, unless we are willing to say that I do not know whether you are a thinker, we cannot say that we know that the Chinese Room system is not a thinker." Assess this reply to Searle’s Chinese Room Argument.

6. What is the relationship between thought and emotions? Is an evaluative judgment necessary for a genuine emotion?

7. What’s a psychophysical theory of emotions? Compare a psychophysical theory to a propositional attitude theory. To what extent does support for each theory rely on a priori or a posteriori considerations?