Concise philosophy+experimental manual+brain hole highlights =?
Well, as a philosopher, I started a fantastic thinking journey with full curiosity.
Thinking experiment
Some people say that philosophy is a science on the sofa. There are no laboratories full of instruments, no experimenters in white coats, only the wisdom and thoughts of philosophers, and these countless philosophical experiments.
Thought experiment, as its name implies, is an imaginative tool to study the nature of things. These are the most important tools developed by philosophers in 2000. They carefully question, scrutinize and demonstrate, exert superhuman imagination and seek the answers to the fundamental questions of life.
Basic problems of life
From a cry, we were brought into this world. From then on, learn to struggle and learn to walk in the world. There are countless problems to face and countless problems to solve. There are many things from what shoes to wear to go out today to how to choose in my life. So, what is the "fundamental problem of life"?
Does Ta love me or not? Or "how can I have more wealth?"
The book gives us 1 1 alternative answers: happiness, knowledge, morality, beauty and art, freedom, jurisprudence and fairness and justice, mind and brain, God and belief, logic and language, space and time, and the last one-self.
As 14-year-old girl Sophie wrote in a mysterious email: "Who are you? Where did the world come from? " We have groped for too long in the real world and experienced too many intrigues and struggles. On the contrary, we forget to stop and think: Who am I?
Then, follow me today, starting with this book, and give yourself a space for independent thinking. Think about it, where do we come from and where are we going?
How big is the brain hole?
Let's put aside those heavy topics for a while and start with a "thought experiment" that makes people's brains wide open, shall we?
1, the brain in the jar
A person (you can assume yourself) was operated on by an evil scientist, and his brain was cut off from his body and put into a jar with nutrient solution to keep his brain alive. The nerve endings of the brain are connected to the computer, and the computer sends information to the brain according to the program to keep him completely normal. For him, it seems that people, things and the sky still exist, and his actions and physical feelings can be input. This brain can also be input or intercepted (the memory of brain surgery is intercepted, and then the various environments and daily life that he may experience are input). He can even be coded and' feel' that he is reading an interesting and absurd text here.
What's the matter? Have you thought of anything? Matrix? Westworld? ..... Maybe you will say, "Where is this philosophy? Obviously it is science fiction! " However, how can you confirm that you are not trapped in a "tank" by saying this sentence?
This is the famous thought experiment in philosophical epistemology-brain in a vat, which was put forward by American philosopher hilary putnam in 198 1 year. I don't know how you feel, but I immediately thought of Zoom, a picture book by Hungarian painter Istvan Banyai, who was all the rage.
Is there a feeling of "but toward which corner of the mountain"?
From then on, I began to doubt life. ...
2. I think therefore I am.
If we say that after seeing the previous experiment, we have begun to doubt ourselves and everything around us: is there anything real in this world that can be confirmed?
The philosopher Descartes told us as early as 400 years ago, that is: thinking. Even a brain soaked in a vat, even a figure in a painting, I am studying and thinking, which is the only verifiable fact.
I think, therefore I am
This famous saying, which Descartes regarded as the starting point of his philosophical system, has been circulated for nearly half a century. So, what is it talking about?
Suppose I am writing an article now, I am just a brain with many signal lines. In other words, actions other than thinking can be replaced and simplified. Although I can still feel the keyboard being triggered, I may be a little thirsty, but these are the feelings that the computer directly inputs into the brain through instructions. Only these words prove that I really exist.
Some people say that this is idealism and metaphysics. But I want to say, when dreaming, who can know whether they are in a dream or in reality? Or do I have to wait until I wake up to find out "I don't know if I am a guest in my dream"?
The awareness of one's own experience is the undoubted basis of human knowledge and the evidence of one's own existence.
3. Peron skepticism
Even if we all live in a big barrel and have all kinds of brains, so what? For better or worse, we must face this uncertainty. Moreover, this kind of uncertainty has more advantages than disadvantages, because we need this kind of uncertainty to live a happy life.
Are you familiar with it? By the way, Zhuangzi Dream Butterfly.
In the past, Zhuang Zhoumeng was Hu Die, and Hu Die was lifelike, which was a metaphor for historical records. I didn't know Zhou Ye. If you suddenly feel it, you will suddenly feel it. I wonder if Zhou's dream is a dream or a dream is Zhou He? Zhou he, there are still points. This is called materialization. ("Zhuangzi's Theory of Everything")
I dreamed that I became a butterfly, and my heart floated with it. Whether it is virtual or real, leisure is not chic.
This is not a negative life, but another kind of openness.
Philosophical congress
Ok, let's not talk about "brain in a jar" for the time being today. Most philosophical questions have no final answers and conclusions. As the saying goes, "Different people have different opinions, and the wise have different opinions", everyone who thinks will have their own unique views and recognition. This is also the charm of philosophy.
Throughout the ages, philosophers have emerged one after another, from Socrates to Plato, from Hegel to Schopenhauer, from Nietzsche to Russell, all of which shine with the brilliant light of human thought. Interestingly, according to the structure of 1 1, the book explains and analyzes the philosophical viewpoints of different schools one by one, as if the masters gathered together and held a "philosophical conference". The host is of course you who are reading.
However, the lack of the participation of the wise men of the East has left us some legacy.