(January 23, 2023 at 7:08 am)GrandizerII Wrote:Quote:"P-zombies" are a thought experiment that has never been observed in reality. In fact, no philosopher has been found who was cracked enough to even suggest that they might exist in the real. And given what we know about the mental state of philosophers that's saying a lot.
P-zombies only need to be considered conceivable (and, subsequently, metaphysically possible), not physically possible, for the thought experiment to work.
And if things had been left as a thought experiment I'd be fine with that. Dmitry wants to take it a whole lot further though by trying to incorporate it into apologetics.
Leaving that aside, I have to wonder if philosophical zombies are even conceivable. The notion is to have something that is indistinguishable from a human by every measure despite lacking sentience or qualia. While we're at it, let's have philosophical fire, which is indistinguishable from actual fire despite lacking heat or light. Seems like a contradiction to me.