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  2. Brain in a vat - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_in_a_vat

    A brain in a vat that believes it is walking. In philosophy, the brain in a vat (BIV) is a scenario used in a variety of thought experiments intended to draw out certain features of human conceptions of knowledge, reality, truth, mind, consciousness, and meaning.

  3. Epistemic closure - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemic_closure

    The skeptic will then utilize this conditional to form a modus tollens argument. For example, the skeptic might make an argument like the following: You do not know that you are not a handless brain in a vat (~K(~h)) If you know that you have hands, then you know that you are not a handless brain in a vat (K(o) → K(~h))

  4. Boltzmann brain - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain

    Physicists use the Boltzmann brain thought experiment as a reductio ad absurdum argument for evaluating competing scientific theories. In contrast to brain in a vat thought experiments, which are about perception and thought, Boltzmann brains are used in cosmology to test our assumptions about thermodynamics and the development of the universe.

  5. Simulation hypothesis - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulation_hypothesis

    René Descartes' evil demon philosophically formalized these epistemic doubts, to be followed by a large literature with subsequent variations like brain in a vat. In 1969, Konrad Zuse published his book Calculating Space on automata theory , in which he proposes the idea that the universe is fundamentally computational, a concept which became ...

  6. Philosophical skepticism - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_skepticism

    The "brain in a vat" hypothesis is cast in contemporary scientific terms. It supposes that one might be a disembodied brain kept alive in a vat and fed false sensory signals by a mad scientist . Further, it asserts that since a brain in a vat would have no way of knowing that it was a brain in a vat, you cannot prove that you are not a brain in ...

  7. Hilary Putnam - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Putnam

    A "brain in a vat"—Putnam uses this thought experiment to argue that skeptical scenarios are impossible. In epistemology, Putnam is known for his argument against skeptical scenarios based on the "brain in a vat" thought experiment (a modernized version of Descartes's evil demon hypothesis).

  8. Working hypothesis - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_hypothesis

    For Putnam, the working hypothesis represents a practical starting point in the design of an empirical research exploration. A contrasting example of this conception of the working hypothesis is illustrated by the brain-in-a-vat thought experiment. This experiment involves confronting the global skeptic position that we, in fact, are all just ...

  9. Reliabilism - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliabilism

    Process reliabilism has been used as an argument against philosophical skepticism, such as the brain in a vat thought experiment. [1] Process reliabilism is a form of epistemic externalism . [ 1 ]