Paul Austin MurphyThe Gödelian Argument Against Machine Minds Relies On Skilled Metamathematicians Seeing…Did the philosopher J.R. Lucas and the mathematical physicist Roger Penrose rely on the rare abilities of a very-small set of…7h ago7h ago
Paul Austin MurphyinThe Quantastic JournalQualia/Zombie Scenarios and Schrödinger’s Cat: Analogous Thought-Experiments?The philosopher David Chalmers once discussed Erwin Schrödinger’s well-known thought-experiment. Chalmers did so in order to compare what…2d ago2d ago
Paul Austin MurphyDennett Quines Qualia: A Bitter Taste Is Not a QualeWhat is it for a lemon to be “objectively bitter”? According to the philosopher Daniel Dennett (who died in April), it’s “to produce a…4d ago34d ago3
Paul Austin MurphyA Pythagorean Reality: Are Quantum Systems Purely Mathematical?“A quark is a purely mathematical construct. It has no meaning apart from its mathematical definition. The properties of quarks — charm…Jul 249Jul 249
Paul Austin MurphyinPaul Austin Murphy’s Essays on PhilosophyCarlo Rovelli on Aristotle: Objects and Their Relations(i) Introduction (ii) Aristotle: Substance and Essence (iii) Rovelli on Nāgārjuna and Western Philosophy (iv) Carlo Rovelli’s RelationalismJul 195Jul 195
Paul Austin MurphyinPaul Austin Murphy’s Essays on PhilosophyAre Panpsychism and String Theory Unscientific or Non-Scientific?“We must distinguish between being non-scientific and being unscientific. [] philosophy [perhaps panpsychism and/or string theory] is a…Jul 163Jul 163
Paul Austin MurphyinPaul Austin Murphy’s Essays on PhilosophyWilliam James on Truth… According to Richard RortyMany 20th century philosophers set themselves the task of defining (or redefining) the words “true” and “truth”. They wanted to see how…Jul 125Jul 125
Paul Austin MurphyinPaul Austin Murphy’s Essays on PhilosophyExplaining Qualia?“The problem of explaining these phenomenal qualities is just the problem of explaining consciousness. This is the really hard part of the…Jul 103Jul 103
Paul Austin MurphyinPaul Austin Murphy’s Essays on PhilosophyDownward Causation at the Level of the Mental… and Election Results?“Events at higher levels — levels where emergent properties become evident — can in turn feed back and affect events at lower levels. For…Jul 93Jul 93
Paul Austin MurphyinThe Quantastic JournalThere is Science. And There Are Individual Scientists.Of course, you can’t have science without flesh-and-blood scientists. Yet, in broad terms, it can still be said that science is an…Jul 81Jul 81