@philosophyminis: In 1987, Donald Davidson gave us a thought #experiment about ‘Swampman.’ It goes like this: Imagine that you decided to treat yourself to a scenic walk, by a swamp, in a lightning #storm . Grey water, buzzing mosquitoes, dangling mangroves, punctuated by lightning strikes. It's a lovely day out. Suddenly, lightning strikes a certain part of the swamp, and by some freak chance of science fiction, animates a perfect replica of you. From this fetid morass stands a Swampman with an identical body composition to you. It walks like you, talks like you, and even has the same memories as you. It goes back home with you and seems to recognize your friends. The question that Davidson asks is: Is the Swampman the same as you? And the answer he gives is ‘no,’ because it hasn't lived the same life as you up till now. The memories it has of your parents, your friends, or your spouse do not match up with any lived reality. The mental representations of the Swampman aren't causally connected to what they represent. So, when we say the Swampman recognizes your friends, that's nonsense. They can't recognize them because they never cognized them in the first place. None of the words that Swampman says, or the thoughts that he has are framed in any way. They were not constructed in space or time; they were given. You are not who you are because of right now. You are the experiences that led to now. #philosophy #personalidentiy #sciencefiction #scifi #swamp

Jonny Thomson

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Saturday 03 August 2024 19:26:54 GMT