Unlike the economy the Philosophy Group continues to prosper and We have
some very lively and highly enjoyable discussions at our fortnightly rneetings.
For the last year or two we have been using Nigel Warburton's book Philosophy
- The Basics as a starting point although we often veer off to look at some subjects in
greater detail which, since we can please ourselves, we can.
Most recently we have been examining a subject that has proved one of the
most difficult - the philosophy of mind. As long as you don't think about it the mind is
no problem at all - we all know our own minds don't we - we should - we make them
up! We say these things but just what is it we're talking about? Unreflectively, we tend
to see ourselves (= our minds?) as some sort of being inhabiting our body - I talk about
my leg, my stomach, my sense of taste even my headache - who's this me that
"owns" these things? This idea of us consisting of two separate parts - a material
body and a non-material mind is known as Cartesian dualism (the ability to drop such
"fancy talk" at dinner parties is one of the minor benefits of philosophy!) named after
Rene Descartes (17th century philosopher) who described the idea. The big problem
with Cartesian dualism is that just how does a non-material mind affect a material
object like a body, or a brain for that matter? (Descartes thought the pineal gland
came into it but modern science tells us it doesn't). More recent philosophical ideas
tend to link the mind to the working of the brain and say that different brain states =
different thoughts. But is this so and does it mean that computers have or can have
minds? The American philosopher John Searle described a computer which faithfully
reproduced a human brain in all its complexity but which was made from old
beer-cans and powered by wind-mills, and asked, if it were to spit out a card on which
was written "I'm thirsty', whether we could believe it felt the same as you or me.
Anyway how do I know that you feel anything? - but that's another problem!
That's the sort of thing we think about and discuss at our meetings which are
held at Bold St. in Room 2A between 10:30am & l:00pm every Thursday in odd (week
number) weeks.
Group Contact: Mick D
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