PHILOSOPHY
100:
FINAL PAPER TOPIC
You feel lucky to have a roommate as cool as Rik: he’s funny, charming, charismatic, and wears great cologne. What’s more, he seems to share your tastes in music, movies, food, and fashion. One night when you are watching “Keeping up with the Kardashians,” Rik trips on the dorm room rug and falls,hitting his head on the coffee table. When he stands up you notice circuit boards and wires protruding from a hole in his head: Rik is a machine! Rik tries to console you but you’re not so sure. How could he have understood all those late – night conversations you shared? Does he really love Chance the Rapper? And what was actually going on when he appeared to be weirdedout by Deadpool? Isn’t he just a sophisticated version of your MacBook, nothing more than a mere symbol manipulator? Fortunately for you, your best friend, Kanye, is a way above average guy, super-stylish, and super-smart to boot. You turn to him for advice. Unfortunately, after listening to your story, Kanye admits that he is also a machine. Unlike Rik, however, he was born human and due to a degenerative illness he has slowly had his brain completely replaced by computer parts that manipulate symbols. In fact, he’s been like this since before he met you. Now you’re worried that Kanye has never understood you, too! Your task is to decide whether Rik or Kanye (or both, or neither) really ever understood your conversations. You should consider Searle’s “Chinese Room” and Lycan’s “Henrietta” thought experiments when presenting and defending your position. Guidelines and Submission Instructions Papers must be typed, double-spaced, and no less than roughly 4 pages in length. You should use no sources other than the recommended readings; consequently there is no need to include a bibliography. Ultimately, the paper should reflect your ability to summarize and discuss a particular position concisely and critically. Any use of quotations or paraphrases of the approved texts should be followed, immediately, by the author’s name and the relevant page number in parentheses. For example, Searle asks, “Could a machine think?” (Searle, p.347)
Edit your paper carefully to make sure that your arguments are clear and well supported, and that there are no grammar or spelling mistakes.