Practice Flashcards
Flip to reveal answersThe problem of other minds?
Track your progress — Sign up free to save your progress and get smart review reminders based on spaced repetition.
All 8 Flashcards — The problem of other minds
Sign up free to track progress and get spaced-repetition review schedules.
Question
The problem of other minds?
Answer
How to justify believing anyone else is conscious, when all you see is behaviour, never their inner feel.
Question
Why is it a problem?
Answer
You have direct access to exactly one mind — your own. Everyone else you know only from the outside.
Question
The argument from analogy?
Answer
In me, behaviour goes with a feel; others are like me; so they probably feel too — they're conscious.
Question
Main weakness of the analogy?
Answer
It generalises from ONE case (yourself) — a shaky basis for a rule we'd distrust anywhere else.
Question
A philosophical zombie?
Answer
An imagined being that behaves exactly like a conscious person but has no inner feel at all.
Question
The sceptic's point?
Answer
If a zombie could behave the same with nothing inside, behaviour never guarantees an inner feel.
Question
One reply to the sceptic (Go further)?
Answer
Doubting all other minds is impossible to actually live — seeing others as conscious may be built into how we perceive people.
Question
Why does this connect to 1.3.1?
Answer
The inner feel (qualia) is exactly what you can't observe in others — the private feel is the whole difficulty.
Read the notes
Full study notes for The problem of other minds
Topic 1.3 hub
Consciousness
More from Topic 1.3
All flashcards in this topic
Philosophy exam skills
Paper structures & tips
Track your progress with spaced repetition
Sign up free — Aimnova tells you exactly which cards to review and when, so you remember everything before your IB exam.
Start Free