Functionalism And The Inverted Spectrum

Daniel Dennett looks to quine qualia, or completely disprove their existence, in “Quining Qualia.” He is successful in creating a theoretical framework by which many intuitive arguments for qualia can be struck down. Because of his success, an argument from introspection is difficult to make; Dennett seems to successfully refute many of the arguments given by intuition or folk psychology. I will adopt Eugene Park’s criticism in critiquing Dennett, showing that an argument from introspection can provide some insight into how qualia might exist. Park argues that relying on memory comparison is incomplete, and unfairly eliminates direct apprehensibility.

The Functionalist Perspective highlights that parts of society are organized to sustain its steadiness. Racist ideologist trusted they have a ethical validation for conserving a society that usually denies evident groups of their privileges and rights. Some of the Racist Beliefs release the dominant group of the accountability to problems encountered by subordinated groups comparable to education or any social difficulty that such groups may develop. There are numerous ways racism is dysfunctional to society, racial prejudice and discernment fail to use assets of other groups. It damages other groups since of poverty, which often outcomes in crime and delinquency. It demoralizes goodwill and diplomatic interactions among countries. As well as, underestimates pacific solutions in disagreements.

In Harman’s paper, “The Intrinsic Quality of Experience,” he defends the concept of functionalism, which is the theory that mental states are identified by what they do as opposed to what they are made of. Harman defends functionalism by stating the three familiar arguments against functionalism and then refutes those arguments. Out of the three oppositions to functionalism, the inverted spectrum argument is the best.

In the essay “Epiphenomenal qualia,” Jackson introduces the mental experience of “qualia” as an objection to physicalism – the idea that all true information is physical information. Beyond this conclusion, Jackson further argues that qualia are epiphenomenal by rebutting three possible responses. I believe that Jackson’s objections are valid but unsound, and that epiphenomenalism of qualia is more plausible than its counterargument. As for the knowledge argument which proves that physicalism is false, I agree with Churchland that it is unjustified, but I concur with Jackson’s conclusion that physicalism is false.

In the article “The Intrinsic Quality of Experience”, Gilbert Harman approaches three objections to functionalism. The strongest argument is the argument on qualia. If functionalism is true, we can use the extrinsic property, the relationships with other things, to create a full description of our mental states based on their functional relations. Through introspection, we are aware of the intrinsic property of the experience. If we are aware of the intrinsic property, then the description of our mental states based only on the functional relationships or extrinsic property is incomplete. Therefore, functionalism is false.

The functionalist point of view addresses the elements of society, both the function and the dysfunction prevalent in America. This implies that the HIV/AIDS disease is a dysfunction. In the same relationship that the privileged require a lower class to keep up their up their monetary prosperity, so does the operating of a society need dysfunction to keep up its existing role in American society. Despite the fact that the HIV infection does not orchestrate on its own, there are reliable factors set up that cause the infection to disease to socially affect minorities gay people, and impoverished communities uncovering the hidden job of two theoretical social perspectives of the American culture. This functionalist theory creates great conflict

Functionalists argue that although the form of families may vary from one human group to another, they are universal in that they fulfill needs basic to every society’s well-being such as economics production, socialization of children, sexual control and reproduction.” (pg 285) Family is of great importance and plays a major role in the socialization of children. It is the responsibility of the parent to teach the child how to function, in doing so there are norms, values, beliefs that are taught and passed along. Sometimes they can vary depending on the culture or religion. For example some norms and values I was taught by my family growing up, that were based on my religion were that girls had to be home at a reasonable time while boys were given a bit more freedom. Another norm and value that I was

In this paper, I will address three propositions that surface in philosophy. The three are: (a) the physical is causally closed, (b) Mary learns a new fact when she leaves her room, and (c) qualia causes behavior. With these three theses, one can accept only two of these. I will examine the three views one gets if accepts two and denies the third. I will specifically argue that qualia causes behavior, with the view Interactionist qualia dualism is the most plausible of the three views.

Personal experience is a gateway to recollection, attitudes, and knowledge. By trying different ice cream flavors an individual can establish a preferred flavor, by playing in the outdoors an individual can decipher his or her ideal season, and by looking at an array of colors an individual can determine a favorite hue. Without personal experience, an individual inherently lacks a certain depth of knowledge about the qualitative components of experience, and can only hold understandings based upon physical components. In Epiphenomenal Qualia, Frank Jackson asserts that physicalism is false because the world cannot be fully described based solely upon physical descriptions. Jackson proposes a thought experiment known as the Knowledge Argument that seeks to clarify the distinction between formal knowledge and qualitative experience. Supporters of physicalism would contend that the qualia is only relevant to ability, and formal understanding is the only significant component to knowledge. However, Jackson’s thought experiment successfully identifies an error in physicalism by demonstrating that ability teaches a type of knowledge that cannot be taught through purely physical terminology, which therefore affirms that physicalism proposes ideas that are narrow to be entirely valid.

For example, if John felt pain from tripping over John would be disposed to exhibit pain behaviour, such as wincing and screaming, as a way of showing his felt pain. Mary’s belief that a snake was near her foot might make her gasp in fear, tremble, become motionless, and the like. In both cases, mental properties are understood “in terms of observable physical phenomena”

This intrinsic subjectivity is important to keep in mind when studying consciousness from a heterophenomenological perspective. The only true basis we have to determine the individual experience of another person is what they communicate to us. If this communication is inherently jumbled with misunderstandings and theories of one’s qualia, the data on which heterophenomenology is based is flawed and, consequently, so is heterophenomenology itself. Rather than providing a scientific third-person view of consciousness, it creates more of a collective fictional narrative that describes the average experiences of others. In analogous terms, heterophenomenology aims to create a textbook, but can only produce a pop culture magazine. This view may be debated by analyzing the validity of personal experience. The fact that an individual’s view of their own internal processes is flawed could be seen as irrelevant; in the end, what truly matters to the study of consciousness is what one is experiencing. If what one believes differs from the truth, does this incongruity not reveal key factors of consciousness? Furthermore, these subjective claims can be cross-referenced with scientific facts to neutralize human error. This can be seen in one of the examples above, in which an individual claims that they went to a restaurant because they were hungry because they had not eaten in

A lot of information acquired by human beings from the environment or external world is recognized by our senses. These sense organs are eye, ears, nose, skin and tongue. They are immensely important to our quotidian life because they receive, process, and interpret all the information from our surroundings and its dangers. Besides, they connect us with the world outside and help us to gain a profound conception of the world. I could learn that sensation and perception play complementary roles, but they are involved in different functions. Sensation is the process by which a stimulated receptor creates a pattern of neural messages that represent the stimulus in the brain. ” In other hand, “ Perception is the mental process that elaborates and assigns meaning

Perception is a concept that we take for granted in our everyday lives. We assume that what we perceive are the physical properties of the objects we encounter. George Berkeley, through his work Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous , questions these notions of what is truly real. Berkeley voices his opinion through the character Philonous, who assumes a very similar role to Socrates in the Platonic dialogues. First, it is necessary to distinguish between different types of sensory perception for clarity’s sake. Philonous systematically shows where all sensory perceptions break down to qualia within the mind in the beginning of his dialogue, first with secondary qualities, and then primary qualities. To explain our sense of objective

Theories are constantly being examined and reevaluated. This is especially true with social theories because of their innate being. This paper will be specifically focused on both the classical and the new modern variations of functionalism. Emile Durkheim will be the subject of classical functionalism with Lewis Coser acting as the modern functionalist. Durkheim maintained a positive outlook on the transition of society by suggesting that it was simply transforming from mechanical solidarity to organic. Mechanical solidarity being related to the sameness of individuals through religion, customs, work ethic, and so on and so forth. Organic solidarity being a format of solidarity where people are interdependent with others for specialized tasks. The transformation, though making the society more complex, was beneficial because people were still reliant on one another. Coser saw things a bit differently; he saw the conflict that exists within a functioning society because without conflict there’s no means to hold solidarity in place. A dispute that blows out of proportion has the capacity to capsize a civilization because of the high tensions held between the two. I have a personal preference for Coser’s ideology which I’ll explain later on.

Society is more than the addition of its parts; instead, each part of society is necessary for the stability of the whole. The song Everybody Sells Cocaine by Motionless in White focuses on the idea that in society both the rich and the poor all can be an integral part of society. In order to coexist the song speaks to this by asking what the truth is and saying that everyone is looking for some kind of truth no matter what it is. This song strongly shows functionalist theory “From this perspective, disorganization in the system, such as deviant behavior, leads to change because societal components must adjust to achieve stability.”(Crossman, A. (2017, June 30). Everything You Need to Know About Functionalist Theory. Retrieved October 04, 2017, from https://www.thoughtco.com/functionalist-perspective-3026625).