Ned Block

Ned Block (2008)

Ned Joel Block (* 1942 in Chicago ) is an American philosopher and professor at New York University .

Life

Block received his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from Harvard University in 1966 . Since 1996 he has held a chair in philosophy and psychology at New York University. Block was president of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology and the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness . In 2004 he was accepted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 2013 he received the Jean Nicod Prize .

He is married to the psychologist Susan Carey .

Criticism of functionalism

Block's main area of ​​work is the philosophy of mind . He is best known for his criticism of the theory of functionalism . Functionalism advocates the thesis that a mental state is nothing other than a functional state of the brain. Each functional state is determined by the fact that it emits a certain output for a certain input and changes to another functional state. Functional states can be implemented in different systems. Many functionalists therefore assume that, in principle, computers can also be built with awareness . They just need to have the same functional architecture as the brain.

In Troubles with Functionalism , published in 1978, Block argued against functionalism. Using a thought experiment , he tried to imagine a situation in which a system has the same functional architecture as a person, but still no consciousness. If such a system could exist, functional states should not be identical with mental states.

Block envisions the Chinese government conducting a large-scale functionalism experiment. Each of the 1.3 billion Chinese would get a radio with which they can contact other Chinese. The whole thing would be coordinated via huge searchlights that project commands onto the cloud cover. Such a system made up of Chinese, radios and headlights could, according to Block, realize any functional state that a person can realize, at least for a short time. Still, according to Block, it would be completely absurd to assume that such a system would have mental states. From this he concludes that functional and mental states cannot be identical.

Criticism of the Turing Test

In the article Psychologism and Behaviorism from 1981 Block also formulated an influential criticism of the Turing test . The Turing test was developed by the computer pioneer Alan Turing in order to offer a criterion for the question under which conditions a computer can be awarded a mental performance that is equal to a human being. Turing explained that a computer can think precisely when, in a chat with a human partner, it can hide the fact that it is just a computer.

Block is of the opinion that non-thinking systems could also pass the Turing test. The question of thinking also depends on the internal structure of the system and not just on its behavioral output. Block tries to show this by imagining the Blockhead computer system that successfully passes the Turing test. Block argues that in a natural language and in a finite time, only a finite number of conversations are possible. The blockhead system should now have saved every possible conversation and, if necessary, simply retrieve it from its database . Such a system could pass the Turing test without a trace of intelligence or thinking. Block does not postulate that the block head system is practicable. He just wants to show that a system is coherently imaginable that passes the Turing test and yet cannot think.

literature

Editing

• Readings in the Philosophy of Psychology Volume 1 , Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1980
• Readings in the Philosophy of Psychology Volume 2 , Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1980
• The Nature of Consciousness: Philosophical Debates MA, MIT Press, 1997

Important essays

• Anti-Reductionism Slaps Back , in: Mind, Causation, World, Philosophical Perspectives 11 , 1997.
• What is Functionalism? , in: The Encyclopedia of Philosophy Supplement , Macmillan, 1996.
• On a Confusion about a Function of Consciousness , in: The Behavioral and Brain Sciences , 1995.
• Psychologism and Behaviorism in: Philosophical Review , 1981
• Troubles with Functionalism , in: Perception and Cognition , 1978
• Two Neural Correlates of Consciousness , in: Trends in Cognitive Sciences 9 , No. 2 (February 2005), 46-52

Web links

Commons : Ned Block  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Blocks homepage at NYU