Mind and World Oral Exam

Explain the difference between appearance vs reality

Appearance is how things seem, reality is what is actually true

What are Plato’s forms?

Perfect, unchanging realities that physical objects imperfectly copy

What is an example of a Form, as pertaining to Plato?

Beauty

What is the difference between abstract and concrete?

Abstract is a nonphysical idea, concrete is a particular physical thing

What is the difference between atman and brahman?

Atman is the true self, brahman is ultimate reality

What’s the difference between western and eastern philosophy?

Western philosophy emphasizes reason and questioning, eastern philosophy emphasizes contemplation and discovering the true self and ultimate reality

What are the 3 branches of philosophy?

ethics, metaphysics, epistemology

Explain the ethics branch of philosophy

ethics examines how we should live

Explain the metaphysics branch of philosophy

Metaphysics examines what exists and what is ultimately real

Explain the epistemology branch of philosophy

Epistemology examines how can we know

What is meditation?

A disciplined practice of inward focus and awareness

Explain the difference between knowledge and realization

Knowledge is information or understanding, realization is personally experiencing or understanding a truth

What’s the message behind Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”?

We can mistake appearances for reality. Reason helps us discover what is truly real.

What’s the message behind the Upanishads?

Understanding reality requires looking beyond appearances to the deeper connection between the self and the real world

What are the 2 main problems?

Philosophical problems and problems of philosophy of the mind

What are philosophical problems?

Fundamental questions about reality, knowledge, mind, identity, and experience

What are problems of philosophy of the mind?

Questions about what the mind is, how it relates to the body, how we know our minds and other minds, and how the mind relates to the outside world

What is Cartesian Substance Dualism?

Descartes’ view that the mind and body are two fundamentally different substances

What is the difference between mind vs body?

Mind is thinking and conscious experience, body is a physical organism occupying space

What is the mind-body problem?

How are mental states related to physical states?

Explain mind vs consciousness vs self vs soul

Mind = mental activities, consciousness = awareness, self = experiencing individual “I”, and soul = immaterial thinking subtstance in Descartes’ view

What is Faculty of Will?

The mental capacity to choose, decide, intent, and initiate voluntary actions

What is first-person perspective?

Knowledge from your own subjective experience

What is second-person perspective?

Understanding another through direct interpersonal interaction

What is third-person perspective?

Understanding someone from an external or observational perspective

What is Epistemological Asymmetry?

Different perspectives provide different kinds or levels or access to knowledge

What is the primacy of first-person experience?

Your own subjective experience has a special role in understanding the mind

What is the message behind Descartes’ Second Meditation?

Even if everything else is doubted, the act of thinking proves the thinker exists. The self is a thinking thing.

What is the message behind Descartes’ Sixth Meditation?

Mind and body are distinct, separate substances, even though we experience them as closely connected

What is the message behind Descartes and Princess Elisabeth’s correspondence?

Elisabeth challenges how an immaterial mind can cause bodily movement or be affected by the body.

What’s the difference between subjective and objective?

Subjective is dependent on personal experience, objective is independent of individual perspective

What’s the difference between Phenomenal vs Intentional?

Phenomenal is what an experience feels like, intentional is what a mental state is about or represents

Explain what-it’s-likeness

The subjective feeling of an experience, such as seeing red or feeling pain

What are qualia?

The qualitative, felt features of conscious experience

What is physicalism?

The idea that mental states and properties are physical states and properties

What is Behaviorism?

The idea that mental states are in terms of observable behavior

What is the identity theory?

The theory that mental states are identical to physical states, such as brain states

What is Functionalism?

The idea that mental states are defined by their roles involving inputs, other mental states, and outputs

What is panpsychism?

The idea that consciousness is fundamental, widespread feature of reality

What is illusionism?

The view that phenomenal consciousness is an illusion. We mistakenly think our experiences have special, irreducible qualities that go beyond physical processes.

Explain the difference between knowledge by acquaintance vs description

knowledge by acquaintance is direct experience, knowledge by description is knowing facts through information or explanation

Explain Jackson’s Knowledge Argument about Mary’s room.

Mary knows all physical facts about color vision but seemingly learns something new when she sees red, therefore, physical facts may not explain everything

Explain Chalmers’ Zombie Argument

A physically identical being without consciousness seems conceivable. If possible, physical facts alone may not explain consciousness.

What is epiphenomenalism?

Physical processes cause conscious experience, but conscious experiences do not themselves cause physical events

Explain mind vs self vs soul vs person

mind = thoughts and experiences, self = enduring individual, soul = traditionally immaterial essence, person = being with personal identity

What is the soul view?

Personal identity depends on having the same soul over time

What is the Body View?

Personal identity depends on having the same physical body over time

Explain the prince and cobbler thought experiment.

If the Prince’s memories and consciousness enter the cobbler’s body, the identity seems to follow the prince’s mind, not his body

What is the psychological continuity view?

Personal identity depends on psychological connections over time, including memories, personality, beliefs, desires, and intentions

What is memory criterion - Locke?

A person remains the same through time if they remember experiences from their earlier life

What is branching in terms of personal identity?

One person’s psychological continuity splits into two future individuals

What is fissioning in terms of personal identity?

One person divides into two psychologically continuous successors

What is duplication in terms of personal identity?

A psychological copy is created, raising questions about whether both copies are the original person

What is the reduplication problem?

If two individuals are continuous with the same original, can both be that original person?

What’s the Orthodox view of self?

An enduring self, essence, or soul persists through change

What’s the Buddhist’s no-self view?

There is no permanent self - a person is a changing collection of physical and mental processes, through the 5 skandhas

What is the difference between conventional vs ultimate reality?

conventional reality is what we accept as true in everyday life, ultimate reality is what is ultimately true when we look beyond our everyday assumptions since there is no permanent self

Explain the chariot analogy.

A chariot exists as organized parts, not as a separate essence. Likewise, a person exists without a permanent self beyond changing processes.

What is the Turing Test?

A test that tests whether a machine’s conversational behavior is indistinguishable from a human’s. Passing doesn’t prove consciousness or genuine understanding.

What is the difference between strong ai vs weak ai?

strong ai is when a program or computer can genuinely have a mind, weak ai is when computers are used to simulate or help study mental processes

What is computationalism?

The view that cognition can be understood as computation, involving the processing of representations according to rules or algorithms.

What is the difference between intelligence vs info processing vs consciousness?

intelligence = problem solving and adapting, info processing = handling information, consciousness = subjective experience

Explain plant minds.

Plant responsiveness raises questions about cognition and consciousness but does not prove subjective experience

Explain animal minds.

Animals show different forms of learning, flexibility, and problem solving. Their minds need not resemble human minds in every aspect.

Explain group minds.

Raise the question of whether a group, such as a society or organization, could possess mental states that are not reducible to the experiences of any one member.

Explain alien minds.

Raise the possibility of minds whose biology, cognition, and experiences differ radically from human minds

Explain the message from Searle’s “Can computers think?”.

The Chinese Room Experiment challenges strong ai. Manipulating symbols by rules doesn’t mean understanding their meaning.

Explain syntax vs semantics

syntax is the rules for manipulating symbols, semantics is the meaning and understanding of symbols

What is the takeaway from the Chinese Room experiment?

Following rules to produce appropriate language doesn’t necessarily demonstrate genuine understanding

What is the message from Block’s “trouble with functionalism”?

Functional organization may not fully explain consciousness. Identical functional roles do not obviously guarantee identical experience, like in the Chinese Nation experiment

Explain the message behind Schneider’s “Can a robot feel?”

Intelligent behavior and emotional responses do not automatically prove that a robot has feelings or conscious experiences

What is the message behind Shanahan’s “Conscious Exotica”?

There is the possibility of minds other than human minds, including artificial and unfamiliar forms of intelligence

Explain human-likeness vs Capacity for consciousness

Human-likeness is similarity to human behavior or intelligence, capacity for consciousness is the ability to have subjective experience