The brain in a flask - in philosophy - is a kind of thought experiment that illustrates a person’s dependence in understanding reality on his subjective sensations. It comes from the hypothesis of the Evil Demon Rene Descartes and is often used to illustrate skepticism [1] .
Content
Thought Experiment
In the general case, the essence of the experiment is derived from the idea inherent in science fiction works that some curious scientist can extract the brain of a certain experimental person from the body, place it in a flask with a nutrient solution and connect neurons to a computer that generates electrical impulses identical to those that the brain would receive while in the body, as well as responding to nerve impulses sent by the brain. A computer can simulate virtual reality , so the person who owns the brain, despite the lack of a body, will still be aware of itself as existing and comprehending the world around it, generated by the computer, considering it real.
The thought experiment, called "brains in a flask," belongs to H. Putnam . This is a kind of “physiological model” of J. Berkeley subjective idealism .
In Philosophy
The possible scenarios of this thought experiment are used in the philosophy of skepticism and solipsism in statements of the following kind: since the brain in the flask produces and receives exactly the same impulses as it would do while in the skull, since these impulses are the only way for the brain to interact with surrounding reality, from the point of view of the brain there is no way to guarantee with assurance whether it is in the skull or in the bulb. In the first case, the belief of a person (the owner of the brain) in the objectivity of his sensations (for example, that a person is walking along the street or eating ice cream) will be true, and in the second - false. Since it is impossible to know whether the brain is in a flask, therefore, it may be that most beliefs in objective reality are false [1] .
In art
Literature
The brain in the flask is mentioned in the story of Whispering in Darkness “ Whispering in the Darkness ” (1930), where Mi-go's alien race for interplanetary travel could place the human brain in a special vessel, but sensors were connected to them without introducing them into illusions.
“Brains in a flask” - only electronic and “living” in the electronic “world” - resemble those described in Stanislav Lem ’s story “The Strange Boxes of Professor Konkoran” (1960) from the creations of a scientist who had gone into solitude and brought this thought experiment into reality in his laboratory.
Cinema
The Matrix trilogy describes the world of the future, in which almost all of humanity is in a state of “brains in a flask”, serving as a source of energy for the civilization of machines.
Computer Games
In the computer game SOMA to save humanity after the fall of a comet, a team of scientists creates an autonomous satellite, the Ark, which stores the identities of all copied people. Inside the "Ark" a virtual reality is created where copied personalities of people can continue to exist.
See also
- Isolated brain
- Mind loading
- Neurocomputer interface
- Solipsism
- Cave myth
- Berkeley George
Notes
Literature
- Putnam, H. Brains in a barrel (inaccessible link from 05/26/2013 [2273 days] - history , copy ) // Reason, Truth, and History / Hilary Putnam. - M .: Praxis, 2002. - Ch. 1. - 296 s. - (Philosophy). - ISBN 5-901574-09-5 .
- Pavlenko A.N. Nape theorem // Problems of Philosophy . - 2005. - No. 2. - S. 116-129.
- Savelyev A.V. Epistemology of self-knowledge in the neuro-computer paradigm // Philosophy of Science. - 2007. - No. 3 (34). - S. 41-59.