more on this theme     |     more from this thinker

Single Idea 7735

[filed under theme 17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 7. Anti-Physicalism / b. Multiple realisability ]

Full Idea

To defend type-type identity against the multiple realisability objection, we might (also) say that while a frog's brain events for fear are functionally identical to a human's (it runs away), that doesn't mean they are phenomenally identical.

Clarification

'Phenomenally' refers to the qualia, the what's-it-like to experience something

Gist of Idea

Maybe a frog's brain events for fear are functionally like ours, but not phenomenally

Source

PG (Db (ideas) [2031])

A Reaction

I take this to be the key reply to the multiple realisability problem. If a frog flees from a loud noise, it is 'frightened' in a functional sense, but that still leaves the question 'What's it like to be a frightened frog?', which may differ from humans.

The 16 ideas from 'Db (ideas)'

4465 Note that "is" can assert existence, or predication, or identity, or classification [PG]
7415 Question-begging assumes the proposition which is being challenged [PG]
4686 Fallacies are errors in reasoning, 'formal' if a clear rule is breached, and 'informal' if more general [PG]
7414 What is true of a set is also true of its members [PG]
6696 The Ad Hominem Fallacy criticises the speaker rather than the argument [PG]
4687 Minimal theories of truth avoid ontological commitment to such things as 'facts' or 'reality' [PG]
6516 Monty Hall Dilemma: do you abandon your preference after Monty eliminates one of the rivals? [PG]
24054 Everything has a probability, something will happen, and probabilities add up [PG]
3875 If reality is just what we perceive, we would have no need for a sixth sense [PG]
3876 If my team is losing 3-1, I have synthetic a priori knowledge that they need two goals for a draw [PG]
7734 Maybe a mollusc's brain events for pain ARE of the same type (broadly) as a human's [PG]
7735 Maybe a frog's brain events for fear are functionally like ours, but not phenomenally [PG]
3877 Utilitarianism seems to justify the discreet murder of unhappy people [PG]
3874 How could God know there wasn't an unknown force controlling his 'free' will? [PG]
6126 Life is Movement, Respiration, Sensation, Nutrition, Excretion, Reproduction, Growth (MRS NERG) [PG]
3873 An omniscient being couldn't know it was omniscient, as that requires information from beyond its scope of knowledge [PG]