this post was submitted on 12 May 2023
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philosophy
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Other philosophy communities have only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it. [ x ]
"I thunk it so I dunk it." - Descartes
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I feel like a thought experiment that begins from the premise that physical systems don't actually work or do anything so through random chance a pile of dead wood with no actual biomechanical systems could produce an ongoing perfect mimicry of a person is basically just saying "oh yeah, but what if there was literal magic and physics didn't actually do anything, what about that huh? What if we're just squishy meat ghosts instead, and logs can walk and talk if imagine at them hard enough?"
One can arrive at any conclusion one desires by just presupposing a world where a hand picked set of rules are true (that's what neoclassical economists do, for example) but that doesn't make those imagined rules true or in any way support their conclusion. Like yes, if magic were real and you could separate out the core of someone's being and allow it to exist and operate independent of their flesh, then you would be existing in a world where you could do that, but seeing as you cannot the only reasonable conclusion is that the condition of "literal magic" is not present.
You're saying it perfectly. I don't know why I'm offering even a little respect to these premises they came up with. I was told they were the best things dualists have, and they are just magical fantasy scenarios. And yet philosophers like David Chalmers and John Searle are considered geniuses in their field. How do these people have careers if their entire philosophy boils down to belief in literal otherworldly magic?