I. The Philosopher Café

July 13, 2005

I. Book/Media Discussion – 6:00 – 6:10

o Teach Yourself Philosophy of Mind, Mel Thomas

A very brief introduction to the philosophy of mind but it manages to capture the key problems and major solutions proposed over the years.

o The Principles of Psychology, William James

The definitive book on psychology at the start of the 20^th century, it presents a functionalist account of the mind that still holds up today.

o Pursuit of Happiness, Albert Ellis

Dr. Ellis’s asks us to use our reason to challenge our own beliefs. Often we say things to ourselves without questioning the legitimacy of the claim. Such statements as “I never do anything right” to “You always win.” are inherently false yet shape the beliefs and behavior of the person. The idea is to define the underlying self talk, evaluate its rationality and correctness, change faulty beliefs and improve our lives by using the improved beliefs.

Carole Caprio related some of her mind over body healing experiences and recommended some key books on the subject.

II. Discussion: Can a computer ever be intelligent/sentient? 6:10 – 6:30 PM

Bryan told the following story…

“Many millennia ago, on a distant planet, a highly advanced race set out to create organic life forms. This race was not organic. They were made of a rock like material and generated energy by internal chemical processes. Over time, they learned how to develop biological life forms for various uses much as humans build machines. They wrote programs or DNA to control the organisms’ characteristics and capabilities. Of course, these life forms could not think. Everyone knew that was impossible. Eventually their achievement in the area of biological development became so great that creating artificial intelligence in organic entities began to seem plausible. So they created a massive experiment using an entire planet. First, they established the simple basic life forms including vegetation and then they set out to create the first intelligent organic life. The success was mixed. For you see, the organisms did appear intelligent but there was no clear way to separate simulation from reality. Complicating matters was the fact that the organisms were very violent and often made war on each other. You may have guessed that the planet on which the experiment was performed was Earth.”

ThenBryan explained that he is really a highly advanced android that simulates human qualities including the mind. In fact, he asserted he was sentient and challenged the group to prove otherwise. There were very interesting attempts including moral considerations. Bryan explained that his programming allowed adaptation and learning and the equivalent of a conscience. Some found this limiting but none the less all too human. In the end, no one could find a line of argument that could assess Bryan’s self awareness.

III. Introduction – Theme is the Philosophy of Mind

6:30 – 7:00 PM

Definition: It’s all about minds and related questions. What is consciousness? Can computers ever think? What is a person’s identity?

Dualism from Descartes to today – Can the eye see itself?

“I think, therefore I am.”

- Descartes described the mind as non extended, i.e. body not required.

- His “I think, therefore I am.” can lead you to Solipsism also known as Idealism. This is

the belief that you can only know the contents of your mind, not the outside world.

3 Basic Views

Only Mind, Never Matter - Solipsism

Only Matter, Never Mind – Materialism

Never Mind, Doesn’t Matter

The Feud Over Freud

· The Unconscious – Submerged drives

o Repression and Psychosomatic effects

o Psychoanalysis and Freudianism

§ Freudian slip, dreams, anal retentive, etc.

Functionalism, Behavioralism and Mind Over Matter

Functionalism asks “What is the mind for?”

William James (1842 – 1910)

· American. At one point he lived in RI, then Europe, and NY,

· Artist, Doctor, Psychologist, Philosopher

· Brother of Henry James

· Our highest interest? What do we need/want?

· Varies from creature to creature, e.g. dog wants to play fetch, man to read a book.

· Squirrel trying to get bird food, intentionality.

· The mind organizes the world, filters out noise and selects input that will help us get to our goal. Hume was wrong. It’s not just some parade, it’s my perceptions and I am actively selecting from them.

· Power and flexibility to do what it takes.

· Mind/body relationship. Do we cry because we are sad or are we sad because we cry? Body effect on mind.

· Truth is selective, i.e. relevant.

· People have an integrated pool of ideas like a pot simmering of various ingredients. One does not pour out the soup and recreate it for each new idea. Rather the new element is added in, some others changed or removed and the simmering continues. Growth of knowledge is a slow process of assimilation. We adopt as true those ideas that match with our experience and with our previous ideas most closely. We change and throw out as little as possible to account for new experiences.

· Consciousness is a stream constantly moving and changing. You can never repeat the same conscious state. You cannot put your foot in the same river twice. Experiences are fluid and continuous. We are part of the experience, not some outside observer.

· Emotions are like a sense that aids survival and actually are central to our drive to live.

· Intuitive knowledge like space and time required to get started.

· Discrimination of differences and similarities, i.e. comparison, is a central part of our cognitive ability.

· Psychologist Fallacy and asking questions.

Behavioralism

Watson and Skinner owe debt to James.
Pavlov’s Dog as applied to people.
Animals avoid pain and seek pleasure.
Rat pushes the button to stimulate pleasure center.
Idea is to condition people to do the desired behavior with rewards and/or punishments. Very popular approach around the mid 20^th century.
Human minds and motivations too complex and varied for any single theory of mind.
Still popular in treating phobias.

Cognitive Approaches and Reinventing Yourself

II. Use the power of your mind to understand and solve the problem.

A. Your mind listens to what you tell it like computer instructions.

B. If you tell it something like “I will fail”, it listens and obeys.

C. Irrational thoughts, which often become habitual, lead to problems. Thoughts like “I am bad.” “It always happens to me.”, “I can’t live without you.” are irrational and need to be challenged.

1. Catastrophizing and over generalizing

2. You are responsible for your thoughts and the outcome they have.

3. You can change the thoughts and thereby control the outcome. Someone cannot make you angry or anything else.

4. Pre Conscious not unconscious. If it is brought to your attention, can you see it? Sometimes you just don’t make the connection.

III. Open Discussion Question: “Is there such a thing as human nature?” 7:00 – 7:30

· Human emotions are common among people

· Some emotional responses are result of conditioning

· Reflexive actions are part of human nature.

· Everyone rationalizes their actions.

· All pursue happiness.

· Strive to survive/adapt

· Everyone falls under Maslow’s hierarchy: food, safety, love and belonging, etc.

· People always want more which results in suffering. In a republic, it can be the majority who inflict suffering on the minority. DeToqueville’s “Democracy in America” called this the “tyranny of the majority.”

· We are all social creatures but individual

· We all ponder the big questions such as “what is life and death?”