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In Daniel Dennett’s piece of literature “Where Am I” tells the hypothetical scenario of Dennett who is approached by the pentagon to undergo a dangerous mission where he is asked to retrieve a radioactive warhead lodged deep underground. In order to retrieve the radioactive warhead, he must undergo a brain operation to fully remove the brain as the waves from the warhead only affect the brain.(Page 34) Along with the radioactivity affecting the brain, the pentagon wanted to monitor the brains activity while underground, thus being another reason for the operation. As Dennett is underground working on the warhead, his radio transmitters sending signals between his brain and his body began to fail which causes him to lose control and sensation. The only thing that he has to prove his existence is the capability to think. When he arrives back at the home of where his brain is being kept, the vat, he is shown a new body armed with receptors and transmitters linked to his brain. Dennett also discovers a team of scientists overseeing the mission had made a computerized copy of his brain and functions. Being able to switch from sending and receiving signal from the computerized brain and then the actual brain, Dennett essentially has two brains sending signal to a body. A more unsettling development arises in the chance of one brain falling separate from the other brain, but not connected to any body at all. Which would cause the brain to exist without the original body. Dennett finally decided to lock up both brains in the scientist’s laboratory and go on with life, just switching brains via a portable control he carries with him.
Daniel Dennett’s scenario debates the controversial philosophical question of mind vs. body. The mind...
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... Even if Hubert was hooked up to a different body and made the new body rob a bank, the new body would be the one in jail and not Hubert or Yorick or even Dennett
In conclusion, based on these two ideas on if Dennett would be able to survive with or without his original brain (Yorrick), I believe that Dennett would be able to survive without Yorrick. Hubert is just a replicate version of Yorrick and functions exactly the same as the original. Hubert is just a prosthetic of Yorrick which could be a stand in for Yorrick if something were ever to happen to the original. After Dennett went through the initial period of adjustment, he found that ones personality is by and largely preserved.
Works Cited
Dennett, Daniel. “Where am I?” Delight in Thinking: An Introduction to Philosophy Reader. Eds. Stephen
Hales and Scott Lowe. NY: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 33-44. Print.
Rowlands, Mark. The Philosopher and the Wolf . New York : Pegasus Publishing , 2008.
Homesick is a novel that exposes many different relationships, the strength of relationships, and how they can endure tremendous pain. The various relationships between Alec and Vera, Alec and Daniel, and Vera and Daniel are considerably different because of the variation in generation represented by each character. Each relationship in this family has its strengths and weaknesses depending on the past of the relationships. The relationships in the novel Homesick are seen through all of the character's eyes, so we can see how each character felt about the other characters. These characters do not tend to say what they think, we can see this many times throughout the novel. These relationships can be observed by seeing how they act, speak, and treat one another.
Each person has a place that calls to them, a house, plot of land, town, a place that one can call home. It fundamentally changes a person, becoming a part of who they are. The old summer cabins, the bedroom that was always comfortable, the library that always had a good book ready. The places that inspire a sense of nostalgic happiness, a place where nothing can go wrong.
In this paper we will be look at the book called “Lying on the Couch”. I will be going over what I saw as the biggest ethical issues that I read about in this book, I will also go over my thoughts on this book and the ethical problems that I saw for Dr. Lash, Carol and Marshal Streider. I will explain my personal opinion regarding self-care and my reasoning as to why it is so important to maintaining clear boundaries.
In I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak, the main character Ed is a nineteen-year-old cab driver in Australia who has never amounted to anything. One day, while with his three best friends, an event occurs that forever changes his life. While in a bank, they are held up at gunpoint. Ed ends up stopping the criminal and saving the day. Days later, as the bank robber’s trial is ending, he tells Ed that he is “a dead man… [And to] [r]emember it every day when [he] look[s] in the mirror” (Zusak 38). This overlooked statement by the reader comes back in the end of the novel to reveal an important message that “everyone can live beyond what they’re capable of” (535). Before attending the trial though, Ed begins to receive playing cards with addresses, names, times, and movie titles on them that require him to complete tasks, which challenge him in more ways than he could ever imagine. In the short story “Good People” by David Foster Wallace, the two characters, Lane and Sheri, are faced with a situation that changes their lives as well; Sheri is pregnant with Lane’s baby. Even though Lane’s and Sheri’s situation is a little different than that of Ed’s, they relate greatly as all the characters are forced to make decisions that can alter the rest of their lives. In the novel, morality is used to accomplish self-discovery and growth of Ed’s personality by pushing his boundaries, and in the short story “Good People” by David Foster Wallace, morality is used to accomplish growth and the realization of consequences of one’s actions by placing the young couple in a faith questioning situation no adolescent wants to face.
To begin, the novel Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes reveals the evolution of a being. The protagonist, Charlie Gordon is a thirty-two year old man, studying at a school for the mentally challenged and working as janitor in a bakery. He goes through an operation to make him into an intelligent human being. Throughout the novel, Charlie evolves and learns from many experiences, each situation he deals with leads him into becoming a more complete person. He overcomes various obstacles and grasps a greater understanding of the meaning of life. He experiences: emotional and physical growth, intellectual development and learns of the cruelty in the world.
They may eventually be willing to admit that Dennett is indeed missing a brain, but how could anyone prove that his brain was sitting in a vat of a lab? Furthermore, how can anyone prove that a second entity, a computer with extremely remarkable artificial intelligence is controlling Dennett’s body? While these questions are certainly valid, it should be noted that the government cannot rule these claims out either. They have no explanation as to how Dennett is functioning without a brain, nor can they explain the radio antenna’s that are implanted in Dennett 's skull. It will be beneficial to Dennett, to list off other details, such as the location of the lab where Yorick is, or the details about the mission he performed in Oklahoma. This added information would clarify the story more and be helpful in Dennett successfully winning his
For my second reading selection I chose Where or When, also written by Anita Shreve. There are two main characters, Charles and Sian. Charles sees Sian's picture in the newspaper because she has just released another poetry book. They knew each other 31 years ago when they both attended a camp at The Ridge. Charles (known as Cal to Sian when they were younger) feels compelled to be reunited with her. They correspond with each other for a time and are reunited the Thursday following November 30, about two months from the first letter. Together they find what it is they thought they shared when they were 14 years old. There are many more complications now in their lives such as husbands, children, and tradition. They search for ways to overcome these problems and find the innocent bliss they once had reveled in. The struggle is not easy and ends unfortunately tragically.
Descartes, R., & Cottingham, J. (1986). Meditation on First Philosophy: With Selections from the Objections and Replies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Descartes’ epiphany of “I exist, I am” was the catalyst for the exploration of the issues he discusses in Meditations. Although I find problems in some instances of his reasoning, I realize that he has provided answers through his Method of Doubt that have endured the ages and allow us to continue to ponder their truth today.
In the short story “Being There”, by Jerzy Kosinski, there are multiple examples of satire that are displayed throughout both the book and the movie. A few of them are: media, death, politics, and racism. The satire of the media was very similar in the book and the movie. Media played a big role in society and still does to this day.
Daniel Dennett attempts to answer where the self is located within the body in his essay “Where Am I?” Dennett is approached by the government whose intent it is to have him deactivate a nuclear warhead that was stuck underground. The procedure is mentioned to be dangerous, as the nuclear activity has severe detrimental effects on brain tissue, but appears harmless to other body tissues. The precautionary method to avoid this damage was to remove the brain entirely then remotely operate the body sent to deactivate the device a mile under Tulsa, Oklahoma. Dennett had decided he will attempt the mission once he was assured no information (past experiences, favorite things, etc.) would be lost. The Houston brain surgeons had suggested he should think of it as stretching the neural connections, all connectivity would remain intact. Dennett had consented to conduct the mission, thus multitudes of information was gathered by interviewers: a recorded autobiography, tedious lists of tastes, fears, hopes, even musical preferences. The brain removal surgery resulted in success and as Dennett awakened he was shown to his brain in a vat within the Houston lab. Methods of communication between the brain and the body were by radio link and was controlled by an on/off switch. So there Dennett stands, reasoning with himself about his position. He asserts himself as a physicalist but encounters the problem of where “here” is, as he stares from his body at his brain. To ease his self-inflicted confusion, Dennett names his brain Yorick and his body Hamlet, together they are Dennett. So the question he asks himself again is where is Dennett? Where are Dennett’s thoughts tokened? He concludes three possibilities: Dennett is wherever Haml...
Ed. Michael Goldman. Teaching Philosophy 36.2 (2013): 181-82. Print. The.
Robinson, R. R. (1994). Some methodological approaches to the unexplained points. Philosophy 2B/3B (pp. 27-34). Melbourne: La Trobe University.
[1]Altshuler, Roman. “The Meaninglessness of life: Camus vs. Nagel.” The ends of Thought; Journeys to Philosophy’s Third Kingdom. (2011)