For example, one male patient expressed the worry that his wife was actually someone else, who had somehow contrived to exactly copy his wife’s appearance and mannerisms. This delusion sounds harmlessly hilarious …
It’s harmless to claim that someone is observationally equivalent to his wife, but not his wife? When that kind of thing happens on a large scale, it’s called “the debate about p-zombies”.
isn’t claimed actual equivalence the problem with P-zombies. Someone being observationally equivalent but different is merely extremely unlikely (maybe she has an identical twin, maybe aliens etc.) P-zombies are supposed to be indistingishable in principle, which is impossible/requires souls that aren’t subject to testing for distinguishability.
I don’t think P Zombie debates are a reat sign of rationality either, but I think the debate itself probably does nearly zero harm, if you don’t count wasted time.
How so? A bunch of philosophers blowing valuable time on a worthless debate is a major harm, almost as if they were forcibly held in unemployment but drew the same resources from society.
It’s harmless to claim that someone is observationally equivalent to his wife, but not his wife? When that kind of thing happens on a large scale, it’s called “the debate about p-zombies”.
isn’t claimed actual equivalence the problem with P-zombies. Someone being observationally equivalent but different is merely extremely unlikely (maybe she has an identical twin, maybe aliens etc.) P-zombies are supposed to be indistingishable in principle, which is impossible/requires souls that aren’t subject to testing for distinguishability.
I don’t think P Zombie debates are a reat sign of rationality either, but I think the debate itself probably does nearly zero harm, if you don’t count wasted time.
“If you don’t count wasted time”? Okay, but likewise, if you don’t count her husband getting shot, Mrs. Lincoln really enjoyed the play...
That’s not likewise.
How so? A bunch of philosophers blowing valuable time on a worthless debate is a major harm, almost as if they were forcibly held in unemployment but drew the same resources from society.