Picture of John Searle
Philosophers usually take on either physicalist or anti-physicalist viewpoints on consciousness. However, some philosophers have taken on mixed views that incorporate both viewpoints. John Searle is one prominent example of a philosopher who took on a mixed view of consciousness.
Searle uses a mixed viewpoint to explain the phenomenon of consciousness. Firstly, Searle defines consciousness as a biological phenomenon that is caused by neural processes that occur in the brain. However, Searle does not believe consciousness can be fully explained by these processes. Instead, consciousness emerges from the neural activities of the brain without being completely independent of it. To Searle, consciousness is a real phenomenon of subjective experiences that cannot be overlooked as illusions.
It is also worth mentioning that a famous argument that Searle has proposed is the "Chinese Room" argument. This argument challenges the idea that artificial intelligence (AI) has consciousness (Manson, 2003). The Chinese Room argument entails a thought experiment in which Searle imagines himself in a room where he is asked to use a set of rules to manipulate a series of Chinese symbols without understanding what they are (Manson, 2003). The rationale is that Searle is able to manipulate the symbols using the rules without ever understanding the symbols themselves. Similarly, an AI machine is able to process symbols based on rules of syntax but does not have a conscious understanding of the meaning behind the symbols, meaning AI is not conscious.
Searle's ideas surrounding consciousness have significant implications for human life. For one, his view of consciousness suggests that while our ability to have experiences is rooted in biology, there is something beyond that that shapes our consciousness, and we may have the ability to control that factor. Additionally, his view on consciousness demonstrates that we have unique experiences that make us who we are, and his Chinese view argument suggests that AI may not be able to fully resemble us as humans. Ultimately, Searle's mixed view on consciousness is a unique insight into how consciousness could work.
References:
Manson, N. C. (2003). Consciousness. In B. Smith (Ed.), John Searle (pp. 128–153). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511613999.006
Bình luận