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Philosophy of Mind

2 dot points, in syllabus order. Each dot point has a focused answer, with exam-style questions and worked answers where available.

Are mental states defined by what they do rather than what they are made of, and could a machine therefore think?

Explain functionalism about the mind and evaluate it using the Turing test and Searle's Chinese Room argument

Functionalism holds that mental states are defined by their causal roles, not their physical makeup, which suggests machines could have minds. The Turing test and Searle's Chinese Room argument test whether computation alone can produce genuine understanding.

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Why is there subjective experience at all, and can physical science explain what it is like to undergo a conscious state?

Explain the hard problem of consciousness and evaluate the knowledge argument and the conceivability of zombies

The hard problem of consciousness asks why physical processes give rise to subjective experience at all. Arguments from Mary the colour scientist and from philosophical zombies challenge physicalism, met by replies that defend a fully physical mind.

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