Analysis Of Daniel Dennett s Where Am I - 1509 Words

In this Daniel Dennett’s essay â€Å"Where Am I?† Dennett tackles the difference between mind, body, and a person’s identity. In his story, Dennett has his brain removed and preserved in a vat. His body stays alive, and radio transmitters make it so he can still function. Dennett starts to question who and where â€Å"he† is. Though Dennett has several strong ideas, he isn’t correct in everything he suggests. When Dennett goes to view his brain, his first thought is that he is outside of the vat, looking at his brain. This confuses him, because Dennett believes that he should instead think, â€Å"Here I am, being suspended in fluids, being stared at by my own eyes.† Puzzled, Dennett names his brain and his body so it’s easier for him to make sense of what’s going on. He names his brain Yorick, his body Hamlet, and dubs himself Dennett. First, he suggests â€Å"where Hamlet is, so is Dennett.† That idea is shut down when he starts to think about brain transplant experiments. In those experiments, it seemed like you could switch people’s brains and the person would follow the brain. Therefore, Dennett reasons that the body and the person can be separate, but perhaps the brain and the person can’t be separate. So he suggests that â€Å"where Yorick is, so is Dennett.† He starts wondering about committing a crime in a different state. Where wou ld he be tried? The state where his brain is? Or where he committed the crime? Deciding that just his brain being him isn’t right either, he comes to a thirdShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Daniel Dennett s Where Am I Essay1534 Words   |  7 Pagesother to function, but where do they join together to form a unique individual. To what extent do the mind and body bridge together to form a unique individual? Is there even a bridge that connects them or are the mind and body separate entities who solely rely on each other to function, but that’s where all the shared boundaries that create a person end. Daniel Dennett tackles these mind and body questions in his essay, Where Am I. In Daniel Dennett’s, Where Am I, Dennett agrees to undergo an operationRead MorePhilosophy comparing libertarianism, compatibilism, and determinism2363 Words   |  10 Pagesfree or if they are governed by forces outside of your control. In the following paper I intend to compare and contrast the three major philosophical viewpoints regarding this question, and come to a conclusion on which I find to be the right answer. I believe the best way to do this is to first lay out the beliefs of each viewpoint. Once I have done this I can compare them, and give my insight on which I believe to be right. The first viewpoint regarding human freedom is determinism. TheRead MoreBranches of Philosophy8343 Words   |  34 PagesWestern philosophy [edit] History Main article: History of Western philosophy The introduction of the terms philosopher and philosophy has been ascribed to the Greek thinker Pythagoras (see Diogenes Laertius: De vita et moribus philosophorum, I, 12; Cicero: Tusculanae disputationes, V, 8-9). The ascription is based on a passage in a lost work of Herakleides Pontikos, a disciple of Aristotle. It is considered to be part of the widespread legends of Pythagoras of this time. Philosopher replaced