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?
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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?
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