The Theory Of Physicalism

The Theory Of Physicalism Abstract: Physicalism is the theory that the universe and its phenomenon can all be explained through physical laws because physicalists believe the universe is completely physical. A philosophical theory opposing physicalism is proposed by the knowledge argument. Proponents of the knowledge argument say that complete knowledge of the physical world does not explain the subjective experiences of perception and interpretation of outside stimuli. If this is the case; then physicalism cannot be true. Physicalism is a philosophical theory that states everything is physical, and that everything can be explained purely by the laws of physics. These physicalists argue that even the processes occurring in the mind can be understood through physics. This belief raises a disagreement with the understanding conscious experiences, which philosophers label as qualia. Qualia refer to the varying levels of quality that our conscious mind experiences from the outside world. Our brains translate electrical stimuli that we receive from the outside world into qualia. An example of this is the human vision. The conscious experience of looking at a blue sky is a result of a set of translation processes that happen inside the human brain. The brain receives electrical stimuli and translates them into a quality. The electrical stimuli will be the light waves and the quality that our minds understand is the color blue. If one single property in the universe can be argued as a non-physical entity, the n theory of physicalism would be false. Quale, which is sometimes referred to the knowledge argument, is a famous theory that goes against the idea of physicalism, and this paper will focus on how the knowledge argument disproves physicalism. A famous example of the knowledge argument was proposed by Frank Jackson (1982). He argues that even if a person has all the physical knowledge about the world it is inevitable that this person will still learn something when s/he is exposed to real experience of the world. In this example, Mary, a brilliant scientist, learned all the physical information and facts, including the distinctive wavelength of each color, in a black and white room. Mary is then released from this room and there she learns the information of color vision that she did not learn in the black and white room (Jackson, 1982, p.291). This new piece of information that Mary learns after her release proves that not everything in this universe is physical. Before Marys release from the room, all the knowledge she had about colors was the physical properties of colors. Mary had no idea what red, blue, yellow, or green actually looked like because all she had experienced was black and white. Another famous example, what is it like to be a bat? proposed by Thomas Nagel (1974), also argues against physicalism. Nagel proposes that even if a human being has all the knowledge about bats perceptual system, including details of how bats sonar system functions, there is still no way a human being can understand what it is like to be a bat. This is because the human sensory system is too distinctive from the bats sensory system. A human being has the ability to explore and research on what it is like to be a bat based completely on scientific information. With the aid of our advance technology, human beings can map out the details how a bat perceives its sonar information easily. However, a human being will not be able to comprehend the qualitative experience that a bat receives because; ultimately a human being is, simply, not a bat. The only way to know what it is like to be a bat is to be a bat. Both examples above try to convey something in common, the fact that a subject X can never understand the quality of experience of another subject. This is because every subject has their own subjective views and physical laws cannot explain this phenomenon. Other than the learning behaviors, physicalists also cannot explain phenomena like memory, mental illness, belief, desires and the feeling of fear. Much of the information human beings have about the world is not in the form of physical information and cannot be explained by physical laws. Every human being is emotional and has a distinctive way of interpreting outside information. The differences between human beings result in different subjective experiences. Human beings not only learn about the world through sensory inputs and stimuli within the environment, but also through subjective opinions or point of views. This corresponds to the knowledge arguments presented above. A physicalist may argue that the way the human brain interprets information can be explained by physical laws. In the example of Mary learning new information after her release, a physicalist may argue that Mary had not acquired any new information about colors. Instead, Mary applied her knowledge of colors after her experience of colors. The knowledge that Mary acquired before her release enables Mary to interpret the new information that she receives from the outside world. The result of Mary being able to interpret a color is based on her previous knowledge about colors. Indeed, science has always been a powerful tool that helps us to understand the world. However, the physicalist argument does not deny the fact that Mary has learned new knowledge after her release from the black and white room. New information was introduced to Mary such as the ability to picture the color in her mind and the ability to distinguish each color without the aid of wavelength frequency devices. Also, normal human beings do not learn their world inside a black and white room. They are exposed to all the colors without the knowledge of every light wave property within each color. Physicalism fails to explain every phenomenon in this world with physical laws. The fact is that knowing all the physical information of how an experience is like does not explain what it is like to experience it. Physical laws cannot explain a subjective experience such as learning behaviors nor can it explain feelings. Since physicalism argues everything in the universe is physical, as long as any property in this universe is a non-physical entity, physicalism cannot be true.

Energy and the Environment: Fossil Fuels Essay -- Environment Environm

Energy and the Environment: Fossil Fuels Fossil Fuels are one of the most important things on this planet to the human race. Without fossil fuels we wouldn't have today's current means of transportation, we would have less heating for the general population, energy uses would be more expensive, and overall the economy and the world would not be able to sustain themselves. Even still, the fact that fossil fuels are on this planet will never change, but how we use them and what impacts their use has will always be an issue. Even though fossil fuels provide for the most percentage of energy usage in the world, there is still the issue of pollution and other environmental impacts. Just oil and natural gas alone provide for more than 60 percent of the energy consumed in the United States (US Dept. of Energy). With this amount of fossil fuel usage taking place, and the fact that burning, transporting, recovering, and processing fossil fuels creates pollution, one can see how much total damage that is occurring on a daily basis. Some of the many environmental impacts from the result...

Writing a Personal Experience

Before the pen touches the paper with the first word of your personal experience essay you should consider a basic points that will help your essay be a success. The purpose of a personal experience essay is to share and elaborate on an appealing experience from your life. A personal essay is sometimes even called a life experience essay and can be difficult to co.uk/principles-good-writing/">write for many students. A personal experience essay focuses on your experience and the importance of that experience and impact that it has on you. The outline of a personal experience essay follows the common structure for all the essays. Your essay on experience starts with an intro, then the main body and finally summing up the ideas in the conclusion. Try and describe the events and experiences in the chronological order in, as it allows you to present experiences as they happened. To make your personal experience essay exciting you should start with choosing the relevant experience to base your essay upon. Describe a situation that you consider to be crucial in your development. You may think that you have no appropriate event or experience to share, but everyone has something that shaped who they are. Whatever topic you decide on, keep in mind that your aim is to convey its importance to the audience. Your narration should give a deep insight into the details of the event and the readers must gain some meaning why this specific experience is so remarkable to you. Writing a personal experience essay gives you the freedom of style in composing the essay. The main thing about the style is that it must help communicate the story to the readers most efficiently. Don't open your essay with too general statements, make it as close to the situation as possible. Then quickly jump to developing your story in the body. The main part of the essay should abound in pertinent details, without them your essay is lifeless. Remember: Specific is Terrific!

Faire les quatre cents coups - French Expression

Expression: Faire les quatre cents coups Pronunciation: [fehr lay kat(reu) sa(n) coo] Meaning: to raise hell, live a wild life, sow ones wild oats Literal translation: to do the four hundred tricks Register: normal Notes Many expressions cant be translated literally between French and English, but the French expression faire les quatre cents coups is one that makes virtually no sense at all—you cant even guess as to what it means figuratively. It may be partly the definite article les (the) that makes it so difficult, as if there are 400 specific tricks that one must do in order to claim that youve lived a truly wild life. Also, the word coup has numerous meanings—in faire les quatre cents coups, its in the sense of un mauvais coup i.e. a dirty or mean trick. Unfortunately, the title of the Franà §ois Truffauts film Les Quatre Cents Coups was poorly translated as The 400 Blows in English. 400 Tricks would have been a little better, but the best translation would have probably been something more figuratively comparable like Raising Hell or The Wild One. Example   Ã‚  Ã‚  Paul ne va pas à   luniversità ©; il fait toujours les quatre cents coups.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Paul isnt going to college; hes still sowing his wild oats.