This is a response to a recent post by Bentham’s Bulldog, which you can find here. They think that zombies are inconceivable, for example, and that Mary learns no new facts when she sees red. Indeed. I wholeheartedly endorse both claims, and think alternatives, in which Mary does learn something, or p-zombies are conceivable, are predicated on poor philosophical methods and conceptual confusions on the part of people convinced that such thought experiments represent anything more than a feeble and rather useless attempt at understanding reality. It would be far more productive for the people working on these thought experiments to engage with the empirical literature in e.g., cognitive neuroscience and psychology.
Zombies see red
Zombies see red
Zombies see red
This is a response to a recent post by Bentham’s Bulldog, which you can find here. They think that zombies are inconceivable, for example, and that Mary learns no new facts when she sees red. Indeed. I wholeheartedly endorse both claims, and think alternatives, in which Mary does learn something, or p-zombies are conceivable, are predicated on poor philosophical methods and conceptual confusions on the part of people convinced that such thought experiments represent anything more than a feeble and rather useless attempt at understanding reality. It would be far more productive for the people working on these thought experiments to engage with the empirical literature in e.g., cognitive neuroscience and psychology.