Robots, Zombies and Us : Understanding Consciousness Paperback / softback
by Robert (Nottingham University, UK) Kirk
Paperback / softback
- Information
Description
Could robots be genuinely intelligent? Could they be conscious? Could there be zombies? Prompted by these questions Robert Kirk introduces the main problems of consciousness and sets out a new approach to solving them. He starts by discussing behaviourism, Turing’s test of intelligence and Searle’s famous Chinese Room argument, and goes on to examine dualism – the idea that consciousness requires something beyond the physical – together with its opposite, physicalism.
Probing the idea of zombies, he concludes they are logically impossible.
Having presented the central problems, he sketches his solution: a version of functionalism, according to which consciousness consists in the performance of functions. While there is wide agreement among philosophers about what the main problems of consciousness are, there is little agreement on how to go about solving them.
With this powerful case for his version of functionalism, Kirk offers an engaging introduction to both the problems and a possible solution.
Information
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Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:208 pages
- Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication Date:23/02/2017
- Category:
- ISBN:9781474286596
Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:208 pages
- Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication Date:23/02/2017
- Category:
- ISBN:9781474286596