Please provide me with "one shred of scientific FACT" that supports the "theory" I know you hold that people other than yourself have minds.
Bump for your answer also please, to my question in #1714. I'm still waiting for the answers/proofs from Kyrie and Jedigirl:
To: Kyrie; Jedigirl
Kyrie asked in #12:"Can you list the assumptions necessary to derive it?"
I responded: Good question.
Can you list the presuppositions/assumptions necessary for me to believe that people other than myself have minds? I mean ... I know *I* have a mind, but how can I prove that other people have minds? How do I know that you all aren't just robots?
1714 posted on 3/24/02 2:11 PM Pacific by Matchett-PI
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Hi, Matchett-PI! Didn't we get into some argument or other a year or two ago? Not that it matters, but your pseudonym seems familiar...
Anyway, about your question:
Can you list the presuppositions/assumptions necessary for me to believe that people other than myself have minds? I mean ... I know *I* have a mind, but how can I prove that other people have minds? How do I know that you all aren't just robots?Taking your question literally, one assumption suffices:
ASSUMPTION 1: Every human being that has brainwaves, has a mind of some kind.
I suspect that this answer will not satisfy you. In that case, we could consider the following line of argument.
You have a mind. Where did it come from? If it was an accident of physics, others of your species may not have their own minds. If it comes from genetics, it is then likely that others of your species have similar minds. If it was given you by some more advanced entity, then it will depend on whether or not it was "just for you" or for a larger group.
Most people hold to one of two assumptions. The first is that a mind arises from the workings of the brain, which in turn arise from genetics. Thus if I have a mind, so should others with structurally similar brains. (The similarity of the mind would follow the similarity of the brain.)
The second assumption is that the mind is a gift from God, but a gift to the entire species, not just to an individual.
Either of these assumptions would be sufficient to "prove" that my mind is not unique. You are correct, however, in supposing that someone else's mind is empirically unverifiable.