Determinism In Star Trek

“Materialism does not deny that humans have both mental and physical attributes but says that both are attributes of the same thing – namely, the living human organism” (Hasker, 1983, p.69-70). Maddox could be arguing whether Data or any other computer, is “able really to think – as opposed to simulating thought processes” (p. 70). Knowing this is what Maddox uses to deny that Data even has a soul, he believes that Data is the property of Starfleet and can be used as they see fit. This means that Data does not have free will and therefore does not have the right to refuse being disassembled and cannot quit from Starfleet. It is said in the chapter by Maddox and Commander Riker that Data is just a group of chips, wires, and programming, and only looks

William Hasker uses multiple categories to list out the different views on the mind/body problem in his book Metaphysics: Constructing a World View. Captain Picard, Data’s commanding officer and the defending attorney for Data’s case, would be classified as a materialist. Picard views Data as having rights just like the rest of the humans who work for Starfleet. In trial Picard says, “We too are machines, just machines of a different type” (Scheerer, 1989). This statement from Picard alone shows his materialism thinking. Materialism thinking does not believe in souls thus since Data is manmade he would not have a soul as well making him an equal to human beings. Picard believes since Data is intelligent, self-aware, and has a consciousness of his existence and actions then this makes Data a sentient.

Defending Hard Determinism Against the Strongest Objections Raised Against It In this academic essay there will be a clear and defined description of both hard determinism and its eventual nemesis indeterminism. Based on these definitions there will be a personal attempt at denying hard determinism. This will be accomplished through the introduction of David Hume and his radical philosophy on causality and the relation this may have on hard determinism, as well as the various possibilities it may distinguish. Furthermore the Causal Principle will also be introduced and slandered in its incapability to provide a concrete defense for hard determinism and its potential in proposing a solution

Based on my reading of Hasker (1983), I believe the view of the mind or body problem that was exhibited by Piccard in the synopsis from Star Trek: The Next Generation was the Dualism view. Picard stated that, “Data has rights among them the right to refuse to undergo an experimental procedure such as this.” Here, Picard ascribes both physical and mental attributes to the robot (Data). This view correlates to Hasker (1983) statement that, “Dualism begins by taking quite seriously the fact that human beings have both physical properties and mental properties…” (p. 65). Hasker (1983) further indicates that even though the mind and body are different, they are not detached, but continuously interacting (Dualism Interactionism), which is

The philosophy of determinism states that everything humans do are determined by the previous action and the causal law of nature. Determinism believes that humans are no control over their action, therefore there is no free will, and nobody is responsible for their action. There are several responses to the philosophy of determinism including libertarianism, compatibilism, and fatalist

I do not feel Picard is being irrational because he truly believes Data has rights and he should be allowed to make his decisions regarding his future. Emotions probably come into play because Data is his co-worker even if Picard is the commanding officer. I strongly feel he is supporting an employee of his rights.

Determinism vs freewill has been a highly discussed topic for many years. One of the compound reasons behind that, is most people really don’t like the thought of determinism because it threatens their personal view of freedom! Another reason it has been debated for so long is both sides have very strong points to deter the other view.

Behaviorism has been a topic of many controversies in the early stages of developing. This paper will present a synthesis of several articles discussing behaviorisms and its development through various schools of theories, in addition known researchers and conclusions. The first article that illustrates behaviorism is, “Behaviorism at 100” by Ledoux (2012), which details the last 50 years of the study of behaviorism. The next article is “Behaviorism” by Moore (2011), maps the beginning of behaviorism with B.F.Skinner and addressing functionalism and structuralism. The article named “Psychology as the behaviorist views it”, written by Watson (1913) put his emphasis the aspects of psychology and how behaviorist view introspection. Green (2009) article “Darwinian Theory functionalism and the First American psychological revolution”, is very adamant to have is readers to know that functionalism was the foundation that behaviorism was built. Clark (2004) article “The classical origins of Pavlov’s conditioning”, give insight into classical conditioning abroad and in the United States. The last article named “Little Albert’s alleged neurological impairment” written by Digdon , Powell and Harris (2014), focus on ethical concerns and that may have been overlooked. The synthesis paper will provide behaviorism and conclusions that can draw overall messages from the articles mentioned above.

Hard Determinism argues that every event is causally determined. For an event ‘A’ to occur casually means that there are antecedent causes that ensure the occurrence of ‘A’ in accordance with impersonal, mechanical causal laws. To clarify hard determinism further, let me present hard determinism as an argument. Basically hard determinism argues that: (a) Determinism is true (b) Determinism is incompatible with free will (Holbach, 451). In defense of premise (a), the hard determinist says that obviously everything is caused, therefore determinism is true. To prove that determinism is false, the opponent would have to come up with an example of an uncaused event. To defend premise (b), the hard determinist

Behaviorists and cognitive psychologists have debated for many years. It is from these two schools of thought that dueling informational ideas have been born. Originally, behaviorism was the leading school of thought being led by John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner. Later new ideas regarding the mind became more prominent. Edward C. Tolman was one of the more prominent figures of this field. Behaviorists looked for more evidence of behavior and rejected any ideas about the mind. An idea that was highly looked into by cognitive psychologists.

The movement was founded by John B. Watson, and one of his biggest premises was that thoughts were unobservable and, therefore, should not be studied. Actions, or behaviors, on the contrary, were the only objective aspects worthy of scientific inquiry. Such proponents of this theory include classic experimental psychologists such as Ivan Pavlov and B.F. Skinner. The major tenets of behaviorism are targeted at a stimulus and a response. For example, an individual was placed in this situation which caused them to behave this way.

Behaviorism is “the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes” (Myers, 2011, p. 6). John Watson believed that science is based upon observation. Therefore, Watson developed behaviorism based upon the idea that while you cannot observe a feeling or thought of a person, you can observe their reactions

The behavioral theory was backed by followers called behaviorists that stated that people are born as a ‘blank slate’ and that each behavior is learned in some way or another (Carroll, 2009, p. 25). Behaviorists believe that in order to understand behavior, it is necessary to measure and observe it first must be understood (Carroll, 2009, p. 25). Although they believe that behavior must be observed, the behavioral theory does not allow the inclusion of any feelings, emotions, or any other unmeasurable states that a human can produce (Carroll, 2009, p. 25). These states would throw off the data because not every person feels the same and it would be difficult to

Behaviorism is the scientific approach to psychology that is distinguished by logical-theoretical emphasis as is seeks to develop reasons for behavior (Moore, 2013). The theory of Behaviorism was developed by John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner. Uniquely, this theory states that personality is plastic and can be shaped by the environment or situational influences. Another difference from previous thoughts is

Many ideas were shared between Watson, Tolman, and Skinner who all played a role in the forming of behaviorism. They did, however, differ on some of their beliefs as well as their methods of study. At this time, methods of studying psychology as well as psychology in general were in the developing stages. Watson was largely credited with the foundation of behaviorism, however, he was by no means the only one to make contributions. There has been some debate as to whether Watson’s contributions were enough to make him the “founder of behaviorism.” It is important to examine contributions from several of the early