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Could robots be genuinely intelligent? Could they be conscious? Could there be zombies? Prompted by these questions Robert Kirk introduces the main problems of consciousness and sets out a new approach to solving them.
He starts by discussing behaviourism, Turing's test of intelligence and Searle's famous Chinese Room argument, and goes on to examine dualism – the idea that consciousness requires something beyond the physical – together with its opposite, physicalism. Probing the idea of zombies, he concludes they are logically impossible. Having presented the central problems, he sketches his solution: a version of functionalism, according to which consciousness consists in the performance of functions.
While there is wide agreement among philosophers about what the main problems of consciousness are, there is little agreement on how to go about solving them. With this powerful case for his version of functionalism, Kirk offers an engaging introduction to both the problems and a possible solution.
Robert Kirk
Robert Kirk BScn (Econ) FCA CPA qualified as a charted accountant in Belfast with Price Waterhouse & Co., and spent two years in industry and a further four years in practice. In 1980 he was appointed director of a private teaching college in Dublin where he specialised in the teaching of financial accounting subjects. He later moved into the university sector and is currently Professor of Financial Reporting in the the School of Accounting at the University of Ulster. He also presents continuing professional education courses for various institutes across the UK and Ireland.
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