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    Zombies are possible — Carmelics
    Home/Modality & Possibility
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Zombies are possible

    Consciousness & MindModality & Possibility
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    2 reasons for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Chalmers' positive conceivability test—where no contradiction emerges after ideal rational reflection—is a reliable guide to metaphysical possibility.
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    • 2.No amount of reflection on physical facts logically entails the presence of phenomenal consciousness, as Levine's explanatory gap demonstrates.
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    • 3.If a scenario survives ideal rational scrutiny without contradiction, denying its possibility requires independent metaphysical argument, not mere assertion.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Modal rationalism, defended by Chalmers and Jackson, holds that a priori entailment is the correct test for necessary co-extension between physical and mental properties.
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    • 2.The knowledge argument shows Mary learns a new fact upon seeing red, confirming phenomenal properties are not a priori entailed by complete physical descriptions.
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    • 3.Since zombies violate no a priori entailment, their possibility follows directly from the correct analysis of the physical-phenomenal relationship.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 1.Zombies are conceivable
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    • 2.Whatever is conceivable is possible
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    Topics

    Modality & PossibilityConsciousness & Mind

    Connections

    1 linked claim · 1 topic

    Truth & Knowledge1 linked
    Ghosts are possible.

    Related

    Chalmers' positive conceivability test—where no contradiction emerges after idea...Ghosts are possible.If a scenario survives ideal rational scrutiny without contradiction, denying it...Modal rationalism, defended by Chalmers and Jackson, holds that a priori entailm...
    +5 moreShow less
    No amount of reflection on physical facts logically entails the presence of phen...Since zombies violate no a priori entailment, their possibility follows directly...The knowledge argument shows Mary learns a new fact upon seeing red, confirming ...Whatever is conceivable is possibleZombies are conceivable

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: zombies
    View source passageHide passage
    The anti-zombie argument for physicalism. The conceivability argument — which assumes physicalism entails that zombies are impossible — purports to refute it by showing they are possible. As we saw, the simplest version of this argument goes: (1) zombies are conceivable; (2) whatever is conceivable is possible; (3) therefore zombies are possible. However, ‘anti-zombies’ — duplicates of ourselves made conscious by the purely physical facts (Frankish 2007) — also seem conceivable. So we have a par
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (2 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit