Can I know what another person is thinking or feeling? If so, how? :: essays papers

seat I know what an early(a) person is thinking or speck? If so, how?The problem of Other Minds is a true philosophical enigma. It is apt to prompt children with no philosophical education whatsoever, yet remains intractable to some academics. Broadly speaking, the problem can be divided into three questions. Firstly, how doI come to believe that in that respect atomic number 18 minds in the homo other than my throw? Secondly, how can I justify my belief that t here(predicate) are minds in the worldother than my own? Thirdly, what can I state about the genial states ofminds other than my own?. The question we are dealing with here fallslargely into the third category, although of course issues relating to theother two will also be involved. Firstly, it is imperative to assert that, in looking for knowledge, weare not aiming for logical certainties - we are not aiming to study thatany propositions about other minds can be demonstrated with rank(a)certainty equivalent to tha t of mathematical truths. Philosophy eversince Descartes has tended to be delineate by scepticism either it aims toproduce sceptical theories or it aims to repudiate them. And sceptics tendtowards extremity in their doubts. It must be stated here and now thatthere are not, and never can be, any theories that bear witness demonstrativelythat other minds exist, or that I know others mental states. This is notwhat should be aimed at in attempting to solve the problem. As Austin putsit To surmise that the question How do I know that Tom is angry? is tightt to mean How do I introspect Toms feelings? is simply barking upthe wrong gum-tree. almost philosophers agree that their theories only bestow a greater orlesser amount of probability onto statements about other minds (althoughthere are exceptions, e.g. gumshoe Strawsons attempt to arguetranscendentally for the existence of other minds through our ownself-consciousness). There have been a number of different attempts to dothis. J.S. Mill, who produced the primary known formulation of the OtherMinds problem, used the so-called Argument from Analogy both to rationalizehow we come to believe in other minds and to justify this belief. Briefly,the argument holds that I am directly aware of mental states in myself,and I am aware of the behaviour of mine that results from and is caused bythese mental states. As I can observe similar physical behaviour inothers, I draw the analogy that it is caused by the same (or at leastsimilar) mental states to my own.