Instructions
Write a thoughtful, well-organized essay on each of the following prompts, reflecting both your understanding of the material presented in the course and your own personal philosophical perspective.
1. According to Mary Anne Warren, fetuses aren’t persons. But they are potential persons. Does being a potential person give something a right to life? Michael Tooley believes not. See the Thought Experiment.
Tooley s Cal. on pages 55-56 in your textbook for his reasoning. According to Tooley. being a potential person Is not a sufficient condition for having a right to life (sec pages 12-15 in your textbook for a definition of “sufficient condition”). Is Tooley right about this? If not. where is the flaw in his experiment? Explain your thinking and provide specific examples.
2. Consider “Descartes* Dream Argument” on pages 553-554 in your textbook. Is Descartes right that there are no certain indications by which we can distinguish wakefulness from sleep? Suppose that every dream you had ended by your getting into bed and going to sleep. Would you he able to tell what was a dream and what was reality? How? Explain your thinking and provide specific examples.
3. What is Sear!e*s Chinese R^yrm thought experiment (see pages 131*134 in your textbook)? How does it attempt to undermine the Turing test (see pages 128*131 in your textbook)? Consider the various replies to Searte’s “Chinese Room” thought experiment (see page 133). Which reply do you think is most plausible? Why? Explain your thinking and provide specific examples.
4. Consider the Thought Probe. “Zombies.” on page 146 in your textbook. Could a machine (a creature with no mental states) do everything that a normal human being can do? For example, could a machine recognize that a painting expresses -sadness-? By definition, a machine has never experienced sadness. It doesn’t know what ‘sadness is like. Without this knowledge, would it be able to categorize a painting or a song as “sad”? Why or why not? Explain your thinking and provide specific examples.
