blog




  • Essay / Review of Bertrand Russell's article

    Second article The argument that will be presented in this essay is The Problem of Other Minds, created by Bertrand Russell. The question we are trying to answer is: how can we justify other people having minds? The solution given is as follows: since I think and they respond, they must think too. This philosophy addresses several parts of the mind. Other emotions excluding thought are sufficient, but may not be completely necessary. This means that if it doesn't, it still doesn't affect the solution. It addressed self-awareness, consciousnesses linked to each other and emotions. If a person has all of these traits, he must have a mind. One way to test self-awareness and conscientiousness is to use what is called the “mirror test.” Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay This test involves placing the test subject in front of a mirror and putting a dot on their head or body. The way to pass this test is to be able to realize that it is himself in the mirror and not someone or something else. When a person passes this test, they prove that they are conscious and self-aware. Some animals have passed this test, including dolphins, killer whales, elephants, great apes, and certain types of birds. This raises many questions about the true meaning of having a mind. One of the main ways to get around this “other minds problem” is to believe in solipsism. This belief is that the mind is the only thing that exists, since everything that exists is a reality created by this one mind. If we stop thinking about something, it will no longer exist. This is not widely accepted. Another way to get around this problem would be called the Turing test. It's a way to see if a computer can answer questions that only humans with minds should be able to answer. If a computer is created to compete with a human, does that mean the computer has a mind? Pigs are known to pass this test. Other problems with the “other minds problem” are verificationism, which is described as the theory of meaning. This would be the case if someone could understand a sentence and know how to verify or falsify it. This is a more widely accepted solution to the skeptics' problems because it provides the answers they need. One being the mind body problem, this problem is where the mind is directly changed from the brain. In the problem of other minds, an argument has been formed, called the "analogy argument." This argument concludes that because others speak, they must have thoughts, thus corresponding to what our own thoughts are. In short, Russell means “A causes B”. That being true, A must equal a person's mental state, and B is the person's behavior or physical event. An example of this is if someone was thirsty, they would go get a drink. The mental state is that they are thirsty, which makes their physical state do something about that thirst, like having a drink. Overall, Russell's argument is abductive. That being said, if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true. This means that if someone thinks something and then performs a physical action that will eliminate or improve the mental situation they are in, they must have a mind. Even though this argument is abductive, that doesn't mean other people will disagree with it. There have been many hypotheses to circumvent these,.