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SUMMARY:From the biological self to psychological self - Catherine Wilson 
 (University of York)
DTSTART:20150429T120000Z
DTEND:20150429T133000Z
UID:TALK59299@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Christopher Clarke
DESCRIPTION:In his book _On Consciousness_\, David Chalmers famously argue
 d that a thermostat might be conscious and that consciousness might even b
 e associated in some way with a rock or an electron. Although\nempirically
 -minded people find it hard to take this seriously\, Chalmers rightly stat
 ed that anyone who thought that the thermostat idea was 'crazy' was oblige
 d to explain why.\n\nI believe the short explanation for why the thermosta
 t is not conscious is that it is stuck to the wall. The longer explanation
  I will venture is that consciousness is a feature of mobile\, self-propel
 led\, self-protective biological individuals. We should not be intimidated
  by 'zombie-twin' arguments involving possible worlds\ninto thinking that 
 the 'hard problem' is completely resistant to scientific enquiry and refle
 ction.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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