Type-B Physicalism Is The Best Response To Chalmers

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Rhys Barker Phil 2400; Intro Philosophy of Mind. Paper #2 In this paper I will argue that type-B physicalism is the best response to Chalmers. zombie argument. I start by outlining the zombie argument, then highlight both type-A, and type-B physical responses to the argument, and conclude the type-B response as the most coherent of the two. David Chalmers. zombie argument challenges physicalism, the belief that nothing is?over and above? physical facts, by arguing that physical facts cannot account for consciousness; the intrinsic?what it?s like? to be you (Bayne, p. 260). Chalmers uses physical facts to conceive of a zombie replica of yourself, one that matches your exact physical descriptions, behaviour and functions (Bayne, p. 135). …show more content…

existed since they don?t violate the laws of nature (Bayne, p. 136). If zombies are metaphysically possible, physicalism must be false. As, if physicalism were true, consciousness would?ve been scrutable from physical descriptions, and this?zombie? would?ve been conscious of (Bayne, p. 135-136). In response to this argument, different physicalists choose to reject certain premises. For the type-A physicalist, all mental facts can be reduced to physical facts (Bayne, p. 261). Thus, they reject the conceivability of zombies as a complete understanding of the brain would show consciousness to be scrutable from purely physical descriptions. Conversely, the type-B physicalist rejects that mental facts are reducible to physical processes alone, while still affirming mental facts to be nothing?over and above? physical facts (Bayne, p. 261). This leads them to accept conceivability but reject metaphysical possibility; for a replica to have the same physical facts as you, entails them to have …show more content…

For example, people with anomalies in their brain state, experience specific mental impairments, like the inability to use numbers, or see objects in certain areas of their vision (Bourget, The Appeal of Physicalism). As well, developments in neuroscience now show the exact brain patterns associated with specific mental states, called the neural correlates of consciousness (Wu & Morales, 2018). In this way, it seems the brain plays a necessary role in producing consciousness, even if we currently lack the means to understand why. That is, knowing the importance of the brain to mental states, an exact replica of ourselves would be conscious; why else would the brain play such an important role if otherwise? Instead, there must be a gap in our understanding. Thus, by accepting conceivability and rejecting metaphysical possibility, the type-B physicalist makes a more coherent response to the zombie

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