Why Zombies Are Impossible

Teed Rockwell, Sonoma State University Philosophy Department

Stevenson Hall 1300
11:00 AM - 11:50 AM

Many Philosophers claim that there is no contradiction in the idea of a Philosopher's Zombie, i.e., a being which is physically identical to a conscious human, but which is not actually conscious. This claim rests on the widely held assumption that we have a direct awareness of our subjective, private experiences. But this assumption is false, because the idea of direct awareness is incoherent. Because there is no direct awareness of subjective experiences, Philosopher's Zombies are revealed to be as self-contradictory as Zagnets (i.e. objects which behave like magnets, but which have no inner "magnetizmo".) Does this mean that philosophers cannot be spoofed?