The philosopher’s zombie

What can they tell us about human consciousness? The “philosopher’s zombie” is a hypothetical thing that behaves like a person and claims to be a person but has no consciousness. The infamous thought experiment, flawed as it is, does demonstrate one thing: physics alone can’t explain consciousness. Dan Falk explains how the philosopher’s zombie helps clarify the problem and highlights that the puzzle of consciousness is utterly complex. ‘However one frames the relationship between minds, brains and bodies, there seems to be no getting around the problematic nature of the descriptions zombies give of themselves: they’re either inveterate liars – they insist they’re enjoying the taste of a delicious apple even though, by the terms of the thought experiment, they’re experiencing nothing at all – or, at a minimum, they’re extremely confused about their condition. And if the zombie is confused about what it is or is not experiencing, perhaps we are too.’