Are You Conscious?

Are you concious?

  • Of course, what a stupid question

    Votes: 89 61.8%

  • Maybe

    Votes: 40 27.8%

  • No

    Votes: 15 10.4%
  • Total voters
    144
Mercutio said:
No idea what you are getting on about here, either. None at all. I suspect that you have no idea what I have said either, but whether that is true or not... no idea what you are saying.
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It is common to describe language use in terms of the rules that one follows, and Wittgenstein considers rules in some detail. He famously suggests that any act can be made out to follow from a given rule.[20] He does this in setting up a dilemma:

This was our paradox: no course of action could be determined by a rule, because every course of action can be made out to accord with the rule. The answer was: if everything can be made out to accord with the rule, then it can also be made out to conflict with it. And there would be neither accord nor conflict here.[21]

One can give an explanation of why one followed a particular rule in a particular case. But any explanation for rule following behaviour cannot be given in terms of following a rule, without involving circularity. One can say something like "She did X because of the rule R" but if you say "She followed R because of the rule R1" one can then ask "but why did she follow rule R1?" and so potentially become involved in a regression. Explanation must have an end.[22]

His conclusion:

What this shows is that there is a way of grasping a rule which is not an interpretation, but which is exhibited in what we call "obeying the rule" and "going against it" in actual cases.[23]

So following a rule is a practice. And furthermore, since one can think one is following a rule and yet be mistaken, thinking one is following a rule is not the same as following it. Therefore following a rule cannot be a private activity.[24]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_language_argument
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Can you use the word "conscious" successfully to describe yourself at this moment?
 
Piggy said:
That goes back to my funny/funny example.

In the case of "Are you conscious?" as a simple unqualified question, a refusal to answer based on qualifiers which might be there but aren't (such as "environmentally conscious") doesn't make sense.

It would be like answering "Do you have that five bucks I loaned you?" with "I don't know" because the questioner hasn't said whether he means do you have it in your pocket, or do you have it in your hand, or do you have it in your wallet, or where exactly.

It also doesn't make much sense to refuse to answer on the grounds that the questioner might have a different view from yours about what causes consciousness. After all, we're all awake and aware of our surroundings regardless of whatever we might believe makes that possible.
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The point is, if we define conscious as "self-aware", then "yes". All too often "consciousness" is used to mean something with much more... mystical attributes; and the fact that sometimes my consciousness feels "fuzzy", even when I'm completely sober, tells me that the answer is not always so clear-cut.

You a chat bot?
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No. Why don't you answer my question ?
 
I wonder what reality seems like for those who aren't conscious yet are posting?
 
AlBell said:
I wonder what reality seems like for those who aren't conscious yet are posting?
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Why, nuncle, exactly the same as it seems for thee. For depending on those selfsame definitions, thou'rt precisely as conscious or unconscious as I.

Um, prithee.
 
PixyMisa said:
AlBell said:
I wonder what reality seems like for those who aren't conscious yet are posting?
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Why, nuncle, exactly the same as it seems for thee. For depending on those selfsame definitions, thou'rt precisely as conscious or unconscious as I.

Um, prithee.
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Facts not in evidence. Sorry.

There is apparently no difference between you and a chat bot. Well, except a few thousand (or maybe million) years of yet to be developed understanding and technology.
 
AlBell said:
Facts not in evidence. Sorry.

There is apparently no difference between you and a chat bot. Well, except a few thousand (or maybe million) years of yet to be developed understanding and technology.
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There is no difference between an atom and a planet.:rolleyes:
 
AlBell said:
Facts not in evidence. Sorry.
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You really haven't been paying attention to the discussion, have you?

Do you possess qualia - where qualia are defined as being distinct from any possible physical process? If not, you are not conscious by the definition of some people posting here.

Is your brain merely the receiver for an immaterial consciousness signalling it from... elsewhere? If not, you are not conscious by the definition of some people posting here.

Do you have an immortal immaterial soul which is the true seat of your conscious mind? If not, you are not conscious by the definition of some people posting here.

Is your mind a second and entirely separate type of substance that does not interact with the material world? If not, you are not conscious by the definition of some people posting here.

That those definitions are absurd is not the point. The point is that people do define consciousness that way.

There is apparently no difference between you and a chat bot. Well, except a few thousand (or maybe million) years of yet to be developed understanding and technology.
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Your point being?
 
PixyMisa said:
What, you mean the same way there is a difference between you and a chat bot?
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Nope. Of course the only way I know I'm not a chat bot depends on private behavior that I can't share with you. So far as you'll ever know, I may be a chat bot.

Enter Wittgenstein.
 
AlBell said:
Nope. Of course the only way I know I'm not a chat bot depends on private behavior that I can't share with you.
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So what you're saying is that your private behaviour is different from the private behaviour of a chat bot?

Different how, exactly?

So far as you'll ever know, I may be a chat bot.
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Well, if you tell me what the functional difference is between you and a chat bot, then I'll be able to tell the difference between you and a chat bot.

Enter Wittgenstein.
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Thanks, I'll pass.
 
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