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Thought Experiment 21: Land of the Epiphens

8/10/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
Those aliens. All heart and no head.
Feeling like you haven't had a good conversation with an alien in a while? Unable to think about anything else?Well, you're in luck. It's time for this week's philosophy thought experiment!

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     Epiphenia was a remarkable planet. So like Earth in appearance, and yet its inhabitants were different in one remarkable way. As one of them, Huxley, explained to the visiting Earthling Dirk, the Epiphens had long ago 'discovered' that their thoughts did not affect their actions. Thoughts were the effects of bodily processes, not the other way around. Dirk found this baffling.
     "You can't really believe this," he protested to Huxley. "For instance, when we met in this bar, you said, 'Gee I could kill for a beer,' and ordered one. Are you saying that the thought 'I want a beer' had no effect on your actions?"
     "Of course it didn't," replied Huxley, as though the question were idiotic. "We have thoughts and these often precede actions. But we know full well that these thoughts aren't causing the actions. My body and brain were already gearing up to order a beer. The thought 'I could kill for a beer' was just something that popped into my head as a result of what was happening in the physical brain and body. Thoughts don't cause actions."
     "For Epiphens, maybe," replied Dirk.
     "Well I can't see what's different about humans," said Huxley. And for a while at least, nor could Dirk.

Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 61.
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Yet another way of looking at the concept of free will as well as the mind-body problem. What do you think of the Epiphen's perspective? Is it persuasive to you? Or would you say something to persuade Huxley he's wrong?
2 Comments
atthatmatt link
8/10/2015 04:53:49 pm

I believe the research on this backs up the Epiphen. Our conscious thoughts seem to be mostly effects, not causes.

But personally I model human beings as at least three actors. At a minimum, the conscious, unconscious, and nervous systems are all doing their own thing. Unfortunately for people who like to take credit for things, the higher the system the less control it has.

I think the higher systems only get to make instantaneous changes when the lower systems are satisfied, or with a lot of willpower or strong habits.

Reply
@EdGibney link
8/11/2015 03:34:32 am

That's a good three-tier model. I usually think of Dan Kahneman's system 1 (fast/unconscious) and system 2 (slow/conscious) levels of thinking, but you're right that the nervous system can run independent of the brain so that should be another tier in the model. I think of the lower levels running on autopilot unless they are overridden by the upper levels, but I'll write more about that on Friday.

For the "research that backs up the Epiphen", do you mean the Libet study that showed brain activity preceded "conscious decisions" to move? If so, that research has been questioned:

http://aphilosopherstake.com/2012/08/10/neuroscience-and-free-will-new-study-debunks-libets-interpretation/

Again, more from me on this on Friday...

Great commenting though!

Reply



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