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Article 6131 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: sharder@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Soren Harder)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: lights on, nobody home
Message-ID: <9692@scott.ed.ac.uk>
Date: 6 Jun 92 19:22:05 GMT
References: <5245@dsacg3.dsac.dla.mil> <BpDqqL.MMq@psych.toronto.edu> <BILL.92Jun5115711@ca3.nsma.arizona.edu> <1992Jun5.194207.16546@javelin.sim.es.com>
Organization: Centre for Cognitive Science, Edinburgh, UK
Lines: 37

biesel@javelin.sim.es.com (Heiner Biesel) writes:
>bill@nsma.arizona.edu (Bill Skaggs) writes:


>>"If a thing is conscious, there must be somebody inside who is being
>>conscious?????"  

>>This is precisely the fallacy of the homunculus; but rarely does it
>>appear so blatantly.


>OK, Bill, you've convinced me. The entity labeled Bill Skaggs, known
>to me only by the verbal detritus occasionally flowing across my screen,
>and bearing his imprimatur, is no more than a collection of observable
>responses. Any inference that Bill Skaggs is a person like myself, with
>feelings, awareness, reflections upon self and individuality, and the
>usual attributes of consciousness, is unwarranted. Any impression to the
>contrary is fallacious, because the existence of such an aware person
>is not unambiguously demonstrable to observers. No homunculus inside Bill,
>no sir, no fallacies there.

Hey wait a minute. You don't think he just happens to be conscious
*himself*, without needing someone else (the homunculus) to be it for
him. That X is conscious is a predicate about X, not about something
else which is somehow related to X.

>Regards,
>       Heiner biesel@thrall.sim.es.com
>       who exists despite proofs to the contrary.

Soren

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Soren Harder, (MSc student)
Centre for Cognitive Science, 2 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh
E-mail: sharder@cogsci.ed.ac.uk
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


