From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!ames!ncar!hsdndev!husc-news.harvard.edu!zariski!zeleny Thu Dec 26 23:57:18 EST 1991
Article 2289 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: zeleny@zariski.harvard.edu (Mikhail Zeleny)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy,sci.philosophy.tech
Subject: Re: Causes and Reasons
Message-ID: <1991Dec19.171507.6784@husc3.harvard.edu>
Date: 19 Dec 91 22:15:06 GMT
References: <16089@castle.ed.ac.uk> <1991Dec18.151208.6749@husc3.harvard.edu> <16114@castle.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: Dept. of Math, Harvard Univ.
Lines: 50
Nntp-Posting-Host: zariski.harvard.edu

In article <16114@castle.ed.ac.uk> 
cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm) writes:

>In article <1991Dec18.151208.6749@husc3.harvard.edu> 
>zeleny@brauer.harvard.edu (Mikhail Zeleny) writes:

>>In article <16089@castle.ed.ac.uk> 
>>cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm) writes:

>>>In article <1991Dec17.154142.21021@psych.toronto.edu> 
>>>michael@psych.toronto.edu (Michael Gemar) writes:

MG:
>>>>*I* uniquely determine what *I* am thinking about.  I am the sole arbiter
>>>>of the content of my conscious thoughts.  How could it possibly be otherwise?

CM:
>>>Simple. You could be wrong. People often are.

MZ:
>>He could be wrong, but not in a way that could be legitimately 
>>corrected by you.

CM:
>What on earth is the point of this silly and irrelevant ad hominem
>attack? Oh, sorry, Mikhail, didn't spot your sig.

The point is to suggest that Michael's beliefs about the content of his
conscious thought are incorrigible by an external observer.  Much like your
own philosophical misconceptions, but in a different sense.

You see, the ad hominem attack always comes *after* the argument.

>-- 
>Chris Malcolm    cam@uk.ac.ed.aifh          +44 (0)31 650 3085
>Department of Artificial Intelligence,    Edinburgh University
>5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK                DoD #205


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