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    If 'zombie' descriptions smuggle in functional difference... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Zombies are conceivable

    If 'zombie' descriptions smuggle in functional differences unnoticed, the appearance of conceivability is an artifact of imprecise stipulation rather than genuine modal coherence.

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    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Zombie descriptions typically specify only structural/behavioral properties, leaving consciousness-relevant functional details implicitly assumed identical.
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    • 2.When philosophers carefully specify all functional properties of conscious beings, zombies become genuinely inconceivable, not merely stipulated away.
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    • 3.Conceivability requires precision; vague stipulations create illusions of possibility that collapse under rigorous functional analysis.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Even maximally precise functional descriptions may fail to capture phenomenal properties; precision alone cannot establish that consciousness supervenes on function.
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    • 2.The claim conflates epistemological accessibility (how well we've specified zombies) with metaphysical possibility (whether zombies could genuinely exist).
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    • 3.Some imprecision is unavoidable in thought experiments; this doesn't defeat their evidential force about modal space if the core stipulation remains coherent.
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    Connections

    1 linked claim · 2 topics

    Consciousness & Mind1 linkedModality & Possibility1 linked
    Zombies are conceivable

    Related

    Conceivability requires precision; vague stipulations create illusions of possib...Even maximally precise functional descriptions may fail to capture phenomenal pr...Some imprecision is unavoidable in thought experiments; this doesn't defeat thei...The claim conflates epistemological accessibility (how well we've specified zomb...
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    When philosophers carefully specify all functional properties of conscious being...Zombie descriptions typically specify only structural/behavioral properties, lea...Zombies are conceivable

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    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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