Summary Of What Is It Like To Be A Bat
1. Are you a dreamer?
The meditator determines that there is not a reliable test to determine if you are dreaming or not (EP 88). The meditator comes to this conclusion by first noting that all of his knowledge has been derived from or through his senses (EP 88 middle). The mediator then realizes that sometimes his senses give him wrong information, so he cannot trust them on the grounds that his senses could be feeding him more false information (EP 88 middle). To further his idea that his senses cannot be trusted, the meditator notes that he perceives similar scenarios when he is sleeping to those he has when he is awake, so how can he determine if he is awake and experiencing something real or if he is dreaming? (EP 88-9).
However, the …show more content…
Thomas Nagel starts to make an argument for this theory in his essay. What Is It Like to Be a Bat? In his essay, Nagel tries to imagine what it would be like to be a bat. He determines it is impossible to accurately imagine the scenario because what our brains are able to imagine is limited (EP 139 bottom). Our imagination is limited by what our minds know and experience (EP 139 middle). The experiences of our mind are “accessible only from one point of view,” (EP 141 middle). On a more related note, a person, who has decent hearing capabilities is not able to imagine what it would be like to be deaf because he never experienced it. His mind has only experienced being able to hear and therefore it cannot imagine being unable to hear. The point of view, or the experiences known, comes from the body which the mind resides in. Thus, for a mind have experiences, it must be a part of the body it is …show more content…
A previous chain of events, which one has no control over, has led to the occurrence of a specific event. Determinists believe that there is no free will, instead, every single action made is fixed. Within determinism, there are two sets of ideas: soft determinism and hard determinism. Both types believe the idea that all actions must occur based on previous events. Hard determinism is the belief that there is never any free will (EP 171 middle). Hard determinists believe in incompatibilism, which is the idea that freedom and determinism cannot exist at the same time (EP 171 middle). On the other hand, soft determinists believe in compatibilism, the idea that freedom and determinism can exist at the same time (EP 167 top). So, soft determinists believe in determinism, but they also believe that people have freedom (EP 173 top). As defined in class, freedom is a person’s moral responsibility, not to be confused with the ability to choose your actions, which would be free will (Class lecture 10/24/14). Soft determinists believe that people’s actions are predetermined, but people are still morally responsible for those
The meditator determines that there is not a reliable test to determine if you are dreaming or not (EP 88). The meditator comes to this conclusion by first noting that all of his knowledge has been derived from or through his senses (EP 88 middle). The mediator then realizes that sometimes his senses give him wrong information, so he cannot trust them on the grounds that his senses could be feeding him more false information (EP 88 middle). To further his idea that his senses cannot be trusted, the meditator notes that he perceives similar scenarios when he is sleeping to those he has when he is awake, so how can he determine if he is awake and experiencing something real or if he is dreaming? (EP 88-9).
However, the …show more content…
Thomas Nagel starts to make an argument for this theory in his essay. What Is It Like to Be a Bat? In his essay, Nagel tries to imagine what it would be like to be a bat. He determines it is impossible to accurately imagine the scenario because what our brains are able to imagine is limited (EP 139 bottom). Our imagination is limited by what our minds know and experience (EP 139 middle). The experiences of our mind are “accessible only from one point of view,” (EP 141 middle). On a more related note, a person, who has decent hearing capabilities is not able to imagine what it would be like to be deaf because he never experienced it. His mind has only experienced being able to hear and therefore it cannot imagine being unable to hear. The point of view, or the experiences known, comes from the body which the mind resides in. Thus, for a mind have experiences, it must be a part of the body it is …show more content…
A previous chain of events, which one has no control over, has led to the occurrence of a specific event. Determinists believe that there is no free will, instead, every single action made is fixed. Within determinism, there are two sets of ideas: soft determinism and hard determinism. Both types believe the idea that all actions must occur based on previous events. Hard determinism is the belief that there is never any free will (EP 171 middle). Hard determinists believe in incompatibilism, which is the idea that freedom and determinism cannot exist at the same time (EP 171 middle). On the other hand, soft determinists believe in compatibilism, the idea that freedom and determinism can exist at the same time (EP 167 top). So, soft determinists believe in determinism, but they also believe that people have freedom (EP 173 top). As defined in class, freedom is a person’s moral responsibility, not to be confused with the ability to choose your actions, which would be free will (Class lecture 10/24/14). Soft determinists believe that people’s actions are predetermined, but people are still morally responsible for those