RE: Monist vs. Dualist Experiment?
December 4, 2013 at 8:12 am
(This post was last modified: December 4, 2013 at 8:18 am by bennyboy.)
(December 4, 2013 at 5:03 am)genkaus Wrote: Based on the assumption that Cyberboy has been installed with mechanism that replicates brain function.No. Based on the assumption that Cyberboy has been installed with a mechanism that replicates those function occurring WITHIN the brain which are both necessary and sufficient to allow the existence of qualia. You are focused on the end results, and ignore the WAY or mechanism of doing the processing as a likely candidate for the spawning of qualia. There's no good reason to discard those possibilities.
(December 4, 2013 at 5:03 am)genkaus Wrote: Its to demonstrate the failure of analogy. Benny claims that I'm assuming that qualia exists and it affects behavior in the same way a theist assumes that god exists and causes sunsets. My response is that unlike a theist, I know my own qualia existing (something we agreed to accept as a brute fact) and I know that it affects my behavior. For the analogy to fit, the theist would similarly have to know of atleast one god's existence and his role in causing sunsets.I agree that to this point, the parallel doesn't hold. HOWEVER, you still have the problem that there's no way to establish your evidence really serves as evidence for what you want it to.
I don't accept that behavior, for example, is sufficient evidence to establish that an organism (or other system) actual experiences qualia. Your problem is that there really isn't any kind of evidence that's any better, and that also avoids begging the question.