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All 8 Flashcards — Can science explain the self?
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Question
Cognitive science?
Answer
The science that studies the mind as information-processing in the brain — a physical system following physical rules.
Question
Reductionism about the self?
Answer
The view that the self is nothing more than the brain's physical parts and processes — no extra 'you' on top.
Question
Qualia?
Answer
The felt, 'what it is like' quality of an experience, from the inside — like the redness of seeing red.
Question
The colour-blind-scientist example?
Answer
Someone who knows every physical fact about seeing red, but has never seen it, still seems to miss what red is like — a fact chemistry leaves out.
Question
The reductionist's best reply to the qualia gap?
Answer
The 'gap' is only in our knowledge, not in reality: the feeling really is brain activity we haven't finished mapping.
Question
Why isn't 'the brain matters' the whole debate?
Answer
Everyone agrees the brain matters; the question is whether being brain chemistry is ALL there is to being you.
Question
Data vs the big claim here?
Answer
Data: brain activity goes with every experience. Big claim (in question): brain activity is all there is to an experience.
Question
Can science explain the self? — one line
Answer
It explains the machinery brilliantly, but whether the felt, inside view fully reduces to chemistry is still open.
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Topic 6.2 hub
Science and the self
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