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The computationalist reformulation of the mind-body problem
1IRIDIA, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.
Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology
|April 10, 2013
Summary
Computationalism, a cognitive science hypothesis, suggests subjective experience can be computer-emulated. This research recasts the mind-body problem, reducing it to an arithmetic formulation testable via physics derivation from computation.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Philosophy of Mind
- Theoretical Computer Science
Background:
- Computationalism posits that mental states are computational processes.
- The mind-body problem remains a central challenge in philosophy and cognitive science.
- Existing literature often presents strong forms of computationalism.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a weaker form of computationalism.
- To reformulate the mind-body problem within this weaker framework.
- To explore the implications for deriving physical laws from arithmetic and computer science.
Main Methods:
- Developing a weaker computationalist hypothesis.
- Recasting the mind-body problem into an arithmetic formulation.
- Constructively deriving physics from arithmetic and classical computer science.
Main Results:
- The weaker computationalist hypothesis partially reduces the mind-body problem to an arithmetic problem.
- A constructive derivation of physics from arithmetic is proposed, making computationalism empirically testable.
- The approach suggests solutions leaning towards Platonist rather than Aristotelian theology.
Conclusions:
- Computationalism, when framed computationally, does not solve but reduces the mind-body problem.
- The proposed derivation offers a path to empirically test computationalism.
- A method to measure noncomputationalism is provided if the hypothesis proves incorrect.
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