Patricia Churchland
5,368 posts
Patricia Churchland
@patchurchland
I am a neurophilosopher, so work at the interface of philosophy, neuroscience & psychology. On questions like where do values come from, what is self & awarene?
- First issue of Journal of NeuroPhilosophy is now out -- I am so thrilled. jneurophilosophy.com/index.php/jnp/…
- Is a dead person conscious? If everything is, then why not corpses?Is everything conscious? youtube.com/watch?v=RlY7wD…
- This is probably the stupidest thing I have ever read. Amazing what philosophers can convince themselves of. Is physics also neutral between these things?Totally agree with this. The data of neuroscience is neutral between materialism, dualism, and panpsychism. Anyone with a theory of consciousness is doing metaphysics, it's just that some of us are able to admit it.
- & philosophers think consciousness is a hard problem...
- UCSD has put up about 15 vending machines on campus that dispense a covid test kit when you insert your UCSD ID card. Swab your nostrils, put the swab in a bar-coded tube, & drop it in a hopper. Test results within 72 hours, usually 24. Smart & effective.
- I still find it very difficult to reflect on my early career, but several things helped me: Paul, who always treated me as an equal, and Francis Crick and Terry Sejnowski, who I met in 1983 and also did so. It was such a relief.
- Ahem. Galileo used an actual experiment, dropping heavy and light balls from the tower of Pisa. And observing. Yes, by all means, imitate Galileo's method. GET DATA.Thought experiments can teach us something about logical coherence/incoherence. Galileo proved that Aristotle was wrong that heavier objects fall faster just with a thought experiment that revealed the view to be incoherent. I think we can do exactly the same with physicalism.
- Hilariously brilliant satire -- love it! The Hard Problem of Breakfast nautil.us/issue/88/love-… via @NautilusMag
- If I know everything (book-wise) about pregnancy, that does not make me pregnant. A unique causal path is needed. Similarly, if I know everything (book-wise) about seeing the color red, that does not cause me to see red. A unique causal path is needed. Simple.Replying to @Philip_Goff and @patchurchlandSo I reject materialism because of the knowledge argument. Hence, if you want to argue about this, you need to tell me which premise of that argument is false. Any case, I need to get on with work. Nice chatting.
