In depth and detailed notes and flashcards, covering all content in A Level Module 4: Metaphysics of Mind.
Specific to AQA specification.
Written by A* student.
Explain how Block’s China thought experiment
can be used to argue against functionalism.
Expl
The China thought experiment aims to show that something that is
functionally identical to a human mind/brain can lack qualia. This resp
means that functionalism cannot account for / explain qualia
(phenomenal properties cannot be explained in terms of (reduced
to) functional properties). The
The thought experiment is as follows: For exam
knowledg
Imagine we have a complete functional description of human
mental states But it’s po
A human body is hooked up to the entire population of China exampl
Every person in China is linked to other people (neurons) via discovered
two-way radios “there is w
They communicate according to the rules set out in the
complete functional description of human mental states The sam
described earlier
Some of these people (neurons) are linked to the outputs of You could a
the body
Imagine the Chinese population recreated the functions of the Before she
neurons redness in t
So, the input leads to exactly the same output, and everything gains a new
in between is functionally identical to kn
We can argu
The scenario is designed to replicate a human brain - a functional wa
duplicate. According to functionalism, a functional duplicate like
the China brain would actually be in pain, given the relevant inputs. So, Mary do
However, this is absurd as the entire population of China does not d
feel pain. Despite being a functional duplicate, the China brain does
not feel pain, so the qualia are absent. This demonstrates that
mental states cannot be functional states, and functionalism does
not give a complete account of the mind.
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