(March 13, 2016 at 3:35 pm)bennyboy Wrote:(March 13, 2016 at 1:12 pm)mh.brewer Wrote: I'm not convinced I believe this. Minds exist as a function of the brain. If the functioning brain is altered then the function of the mind is altered.
You are stating as fact something which you assume. Tell me, by what criteria will you establish an actually sentient being from a philosophical zombie?
Before you tell me that mind is altered, you have to tell me how you know that there IS a mind to be altered. Cuz I say it can't be done.
Quote from you: " Qualia are the "what it's like" of experience-- what it's like to taste pineapple, for example, cannot be explained by any observations outside the direct experience of tasting pineapple."
So, have a person eat a pineapple for the first time (removing every other sense beside taste) and have them describe the "what it's like". Then (hypothetically) destroy the portion of the brain primarily responsible for taste. Have them eat pineapple again and get the description. The "what it's like" will have changed. This is seen in brain injury victims. Loss of taste, smell, touch, ability to understand speech, ability to speak, ability to recognize shapes/people/places. Their "what it's like" has changed.
Being told you're delusional does not necessarily mean you're mental.