Re: Debunking simplistic physicalism

Neil W Rickert <rickert+nn@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
curt@xxxxxxxx (Curt Welch) writes:
Neil W Rickert <rickert+nn@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

And, from another perspective, when we talk about "apples" doing
things, we have included indirectly into our discussion the way the
brain determines what an apple is.

No, we haven't. We may have included the result of what the brain
does, but we haven't included the way the brain does it.

Well, my point here is that "apples" is the set of all objects a typical
brain would classify as being an apple.

Strictly speaking, brains don't classify. People classify, but it
takes more than a brain.

As such, the definition of that
set depends on how the brain performs that classification function.

But knowing one member of the set does not define the set.

We have not included the specifics of how that works, but we have made
reference at minimal to the fact that this function does exist and we
are talking about it indirectly when we talk about apples generically.

How can you be sure it is a function?

Well, again, you have subtle and odd meanings for these words that I often
don't grasp but it's a function to me because it takes as input some
sensory experience and produces output such as "that's an Apple" or "not an
apple".

But even less specific, I use the word "function" to just generically mean
something like "how the machine functions", or "what it does".

--
Curt Welch http://CurtWelch.Com/
curt@xxxxxxxx http://NewsReader.Com/
.

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