Robots, Zombies and Us (el. knyga) (skaityta knyga) | Robert Kirk | knygos.lt

Aprašymas

Could robots be genuinely intelligent and conscious? Are zombies logically possible? Using questions about robots and zombies, Robert Kirk introduces the main problems of consciousness and argues for a new approach to solving them.

Alongside explanations of behaviourism, Turing's test of intelligence and Searle's famous Chinese Room argument, Kirk discusses Cartesian dualism, and objections to it before tackling what's wrong with the zombie idea. After raising these central problems of consciousness and revealing why zombies are impossible, Kirk sketches out and defends the core principles of functionalism: an approach according to which consciousness is a matter of the performance of functions. He addresses opposition and uses ideas, such as the 'brain in the vat', to show how this approach can deal with other kinds of phenomenal consciousness, arguing why there is no serious alternative to functionalism.

While there is wide agreement among philosophers about what constitutes the main problems of consciousness, there is little agreement on how to go about solving them. By making a strong case for adopting functionalism, Kirk presents an engaging introduction to consciousness.