<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Dec 10, 2017 at 10:24 AM, John Clark <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:johnkclark@gmail.com" target="_blank">johnkclark@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><span class=""><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">On Fri, Dec 8, 2017 at 1:51 PM, William Flynn Wallace </span><span dir="ltr" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><<a href="mailto:foozler83@gmail.com" target="_blank">foozler83@gmail.com</a>></span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"> wrote:</span><br></div></span><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><span class=""><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">> </div>Taking off from your idea that you cannot verify the consciousness of others:<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"> </div>Then you cannot also verify: emotions, thinking (conscious or unconscious), any kind of mental state, whether hidden or possibly the basis of some external behaviors.</div></div></blockquote><div><br></div></span><div><div><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"></font><font size="4">The only mental state I have direct access to is my own, I can only infer the mental state of others by observing their behavior and using a theory I very strongly believe in, intelligent behavior implies consciousness. I have strong logical reasons for thinking this theory is true but I admit it falls short of a rigorous proof. But as far as my emotions are concerned proof or no proof I have no doubt whatsoever that other people are conscious except when they are behaving as if they are not, for example when they're sleeping or under anesthesia or dead.</font></div></div><span class=""><font color="#000000" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">> </div>So, theoretically, you are a solipsist.</div></div></blockquote><div><br></div></span><div><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"><font size="4">I could not function if I thought I was the only conscious being in the universe. I don't think true solipsists exist outside a looney bin, except perhaps for philosophy professors, and even then only when they're in from of freshman students and are trying to be provocative. </font></div><font size="4"> </font></div><span class=""><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">> </div>I think this makes you no different from anyone else.<br></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div></span><div><font size="4"><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">Yes.... probably,.... but..... but I can't prove I'm not the only conscious being in the universe, I can only show its unlikely. </div> </font></div><div><font size="4"><br></font></div><div><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">John K Clark</font></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Then I think that I have your attitudes correct. They are identical to mine, and probably nearly everyone else, unless some else in the group replies au contraire. Like science itself, there is no certainty.</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">bill w</div><br></div><div><br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
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