24.09 Minds and Machines

1. Are there any propositions that are metaphysically possible but nomologically impossible?

2. Are there any propositions that are nomologically possible but metaphysically impossible?

3. There are roughly 6000 human languages (English, Spanish, Tagalog, etc.). Approximately how many can be used to express the proposition that the sun rises?
(a) 0
(b) 1
(c) 3000
(d) 6000

4. Consider the dyadic property (relation) is less than, usually symbolized '<'. Which of the following pairs (in the listed order) exemplify this relation?
(a) the roman numeral 'XVI', the arabic numeral '200'
(b) the number of planets, the cube root of 27
(c) the number of planets, the number of natural numbers n such that n < 50
(d) 16, 200

5. Suppose that 'There are Fs', and 'There are Gs' are both meaningful statements. Does Ryle think that 'There are Fs and Gs' is also meaningful?
Bonus point: using the definitions in handout 1, does Ryle think that anything of the form:
There are Fs, there are Gs, so there are Fs and Gs
is a valid argument?

6. Here is one behaviorist theory of belief:

S believes that p if S would answer "Yes" if S were asked "Is it true that p?"

(To get a specific consequence of this theory, replace 'S' by the name of any person and replace 'p' by any declarative sentence.)

(i) Does the theory have the consequence that a monolingual Spanish speaker does not believe that snow is white?

(ii) Does the theory have the consequence that some ordinary cases of lying are impossible?

7. Is the 'is' in 'This table is an old packing case' the 'is' of identity, according to Place?

8. "Some hallucinated rats are purple. When one hallucinates a purple rat, nothing physical in the brain is purple. Further, nothing physical in one's environment need be purple. Therefore some hallucinated rats are nonphysical things." Does Place think this is a sound argument?

9. According to Smart, a statement such as "I am in pain" is not a genuine report of an irreducibly psychical fact but instead a sophisticated sort of wince. True or false?

10. Is Smart arguing that after-images are brain-processes?