Does
Snoopy Really Have a Consciousness?
Sent by FooteyHey, I found this in my one of my psych. books.......read this and tell what you think, does Snoopy have a consciousness? "james (william james, famous psychologist) argued that 'consciousness is at all times primarily a selecting agency' and without such an agency, survival would not occur. a mere machine, james urged, behaves blindly and therefore not adaptively. when she was little, my daughter had a little plastic snoop[y-the-dog doll. one could wind it up, and it would slowly walk on its hind legs in an ungainly fashion. the problem with mechanical behavior, as james pointed out, is that it is blind to challenges and changes in the environment. snoopy would walk over the edge of the table or forever into a wall unless someone prevented it. a creature like snoopy would not last long in the evolutionary struggle for existence. endow snoopy with consciousness, however, and it gains choice and increases its chances of survival. without consciousness snoopy doesn't care if he lives or dies; with consciousness, things change. consciousness is a 'fighter for ends' which decrees that 'survival shall occur, and therefore organs must so work." |
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