Saturday, January 06, 2007
Neither Brain nor Ghost: A Non-Dualist Alternative to the Mind-Brain Identity Theory.
Neither Brain nor Ghost: A Non-Dualist Alternative to the Mind-Brain Identity Theory.: "Chapter Seven: 'The Frame Problem' and 'The Background'
For Dewey knowledge always exists within a background of experience, which is why any attempt to “solve” the hard problem by completely comprehending experience as knowledge was doomed to failure. In this chapter, we see that the failure of symbolic AI supports the validity of Dewey’s insight. Hubert Dreyfus’ critique of symbolic AI showed us that it failed because its goal was a computerized simulation of the Cartesian materialist brain, which tried unsuccessfully to mirror the entire world 'inside the head'. We also see how Searle's concept of 'the background' requires a theory of meaning and mind which make it impossible for language comprehension to be accomplished by a self-contained system that operates entirely inside the head. Language works because, as Searle and Dreyfus propose, we share a background of lived and embodied experience. AI research has produced decisive evidence that it is impossible to capture what we know by simply adding more and more sentences to a system's memory. This seems to imply that language and experience must work together for language to be meaningful at all."
For Dewey knowledge always exists within a background of experience, which is why any attempt to “solve” the hard problem by completely comprehending experience as knowledge was doomed to failure. In this chapter, we see that the failure of symbolic AI supports the validity of Dewey’s insight. Hubert Dreyfus’ critique of symbolic AI showed us that it failed because its goal was a computerized simulation of the Cartesian materialist brain, which tried unsuccessfully to mirror the entire world 'inside the head'. We also see how Searle's concept of 'the background' requires a theory of meaning and mind which make it impossible for language comprehension to be accomplished by a self-contained system that operates entirely inside the head. Language works because, as Searle and Dreyfus propose, we share a background of lived and embodied experience. AI research has produced decisive evidence that it is impossible to capture what we know by simply adding more and more sentences to a system's memory. This seems to imply that language and experience must work together for language to be meaningful at all."
0 Comments:
