5,521 research outputs found
The Super Justification Argument for Phenomenal Transparency
ABSTRACT In Consciousness and Fundamental Reality, Philip Goff argues that the case against physicalist views of consciousness turns on âPhenomenal Transparencyâ, roughly the thesis that phenomenal concepts reveal the essential nature of phenomenal properties. This paper considers the argument that Goff offers for Phenomenal Transparency. The key premise is that our introspective judgments about current conscious experience are âSuper Justifiedâ, in that these judgments enjoy an epistemic status comparable to that of simple mathematical judgments, and a better epistemic status than run of the mill perceptual judgments. After presenting the key ideas in the âSuper Justification Argumentâ, I distinguish two Super Justification theses, which vary according to the kind of introspective judgments that they take to be Super Justified. I argue that Goffâs case requires âStrong Super Justificationâ, according to which a wide range of introspective judgments about conscious experience are Super Justified. Unfortunately, it turns out that Strong Super Justification is implausible and not well-supported by examples. In contrast, a weaker Super Justification thesis does not require anything like Phenomenal Transparency and, indeed, can be explained by physicalistic accounts of phenomenal concepts
Truthmaking and the Mysteries of Emergence
The concept of truthmaking, the idea that when a statement is true, there is typically something about the world in virtue of which it is true, has garnered much interest in recent metaphysics. Often, the motivation has been the thought that truthmaking can provide a new perspective on an important issue. This paper evaluates the claim that truthmaking can play a substantive role in defining an unproblematic notion of emergence. For despite playing an important role in philosophical discourse over the past 100 years, it has often been thought that there is something mysterious about the notion of emergence. It has recently been argued, however, that once emergent properties are characterized as those that, while âontologically dependentâ are yet needed as truthmakers emergence and emergent properties prove unproblematic. In response, I argue that there is reason to doubt that truthmaking can play an important role in formulating an unproblematic yet recognizable notion of emergence. I argue that it is consistent with truthmaking being unable to play a substantive role in emergentism that truthmaking can play a more significant role in characterizing an attractive middle ground between reductive and nonreductive physicalism
Russellian Physicalism, Bare Structure, and Swapped Inscrutables
This paper discusses and evaluates a recent argument for the conclusion that an attractive variety of Russellian monism ought to be regarded as a form of physicalism. According to this line of thought, if the Russellianâs âinscrutableâ properties are held to ground not only experience, but also the physical structure of the worldâand in this sense are not âexperience-specificââthey thereby have an unproblematic place in physicalist metaphysics. I argue, in contrast, that there can be a sense in which the Russellianâs inscrutables are experience-specific in a way that a physicalist probably ought to find objectionable, even if they play some role other than grounding experience. This will be the case, I argue, if certain worlds are taken to be possible, as they sometimes have: worlds of âbare structureâ and worlds with what might be called âswapped inscrutablesâ. In this way, I claim that accepting certain possibilities has consequences for how one should understand the nature of the Russellianâs inscrutables and the place they have in physicalist metaphysics
Extremal sequences of polynomial complexity
The joint spectral radius of a bounded set of real matrices is
defined to be the maximum possible exponential growth rate of products of
matrices drawn from that set. For a fixed set of matrices, a sequence of
matrices drawn from that set is called \emph{extremal} if the associated
sequence of partial products achieves this maximal rate of growth. An
influential conjecture of J. Lagarias and Y. Wang asked whether every finite
set of matrices admits an extremal sequence which is periodic. This is
equivalent to the assertion that every finite set of matrices admits an
extremal sequence with bounded subword complexity. Counterexamples were
subsequently constructed which have the property that every extremal sequence
has at least linear subword complexity. In this paper we extend this result to
show that for each integer , there exists a pair of square matrices
of dimension for which every extremal sequence has subword
complexity at least .Comment: 15 page
Phenomenal transparency and the transparency of subjecthood
According to phenomenal transparency, phenomenal concepts are transparent where a transparent concept is one that reveals the nature of that to which it refers. What is the connection between phenomenal transparency and our concept of a subject of experience? This paper focuses on a recent argument, due to Philip Goff, for thinking that phenomenal transparency entails transparency about subjecthood. The argument is premissed on the idea that subjecthood is related to specific phenomenal properties as a determinable of more specific determinates. I argue that the argument fails, which opens the door for one to endorse phenomenal transparency while denying transparency about the concept of a subject of experience. I draw out the consequences of this for certain versions of the combination problem for panpsychist metaphysics and moreover argue that rejecting the transparency of subjecthood does not undermine anti-physicalist arguments premissed on considerations relating to phenomenal transparency
Partisan Gerrymander Review After Rucho: Proof is in the Procedure
In Rucho v. Common Cause, the U.S. Supreme Court purported to end over three decades of partisan gerrymander review by the federal courts. I believe the Courtâ s decision is problematic. Partisan gerrymandering distorts democratic governance through effects that have been increasingly documented, and it seems likely that those effects will compound and continue largely unabated absent the availability of federal judicial review. But my intent is not to argue against Rucho, rather to work within its parameters and overcome it. That means understanding the nature of the problem that the Court wrestled with, recognizing the Courtâs structural concerns, and then tracing the limits of its reasoning. All of which, I believe, points to the procedural guarantee of the Due Process Clause as a plausible constitutional basis for reinvigorated federal judicial review of partisan gerrymandering challenges. By targeting identifiable groups for vote dilution, partisan gerrymandering functions more like adjudicatory acts rather than traditional legislative acts, and therefore may require additional procedural safeguards in connection with their adoption than the lawmaking process itself provides. Moreover, review of redistricting procedures and the formulation of corresponding safeguards, in contrast to substantive review of redistricting maps as has been done in the past, draws on the special competence of judges. Finally, procedural review does not shift the locus of redistricting authority but instead de-weaponizes it; it does not attempt to wrest control but only to formalize it. A judicial focus on redistricting procedures can thus limit and discipline review so as to prevent judicial overreach, a concern which has long troubled the Court, while at the same time checking the worst partisan redistricting abuses
Performance Analysis of a Cooperative Search Algorithm for Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles under Limited Communication Conditions
This research investigates the impacts of realistic wireless communications upon a group of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) utilizing a distributed search algorithm. The UAVs are used to survey an area for mobile targets and they require communication to cooperatively locate the targets. The mobile targets do not continually radiate energy, which exacerbates the search effort; a UAV could fly directly over a target and not detect it. A simulation of cooperative UAVs is implemented using the OPNET Modeler network simulation tool. The search performance of a group of UAVs is observed when communication range, data rate, and the number of UAVs are varied. The performance is evaluated based on the total time it takes for the UAVs to completely detect all the targets in a given search area, the number of times internal areas are scanned, the amount of communication throughput achieved, the network traffic generated, network latency, and number of network collisions. The results indicate that the number of UAVs was found to have the greatest impact on the group\u27s ability to search an area, implying that the data shared between the UAVs provides little benefit to the search algorithm. In addition, it was found that a network with a 100 Kbps or faster data rate should allow for minimal congestion and a large degree of scalability. The findings demonstrate that the proposed four-stage search algorithm should operate reasonably well under realistic conditions
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