Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-1983

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Philosophy

Major Professor

Kathleen A. Emmett

Abstract

It is the aim of this study to provide an analysis of the problem of "whether or not robots can think" focusing on the role of the body in intelligent behavior. My method of work has been to first develop my argument, and then, to analyze three different positions about the role of the body in intelligent behavior and the solution given by them to the main question of "whether computers can think."

The argument that I have developed is that possesing intelligent behavior is the result of having a full risky, social interaction with human beings, and this interaction is possible because we have the right kind of body. Thus can conclude that computers will think when they can have a full, risky, social interaction with human beings because they will then have the right kind of body.

There are three main criticisms that I have developed on the following positions; "the body is not important," "the phenomenological body, and the "biological body." These criticisms reinforce my argument. I have pointed out that the idea that the body is not important in intelligent behavior is an ideal theory of mind that may not correspond with the reality. If we focus only in the form of mental representations and avoid all relations to the content of them and to the environment, we eliminate the most fundamental aspects of intelligent behavior. The main problem of this position is the derivation of semantics from syntax.

In the phenomenological body, my criticism have been directed toward the claim that computers cannot think because we do not have the necessary technical development to give to them the basic characteristics of intelligent behavior. It is my claim that technical problems can be overcome in the future.

The main problem with the position that computers cannot think because they do not have a brain is explaining how the physical brain produces intelligence or "what causal powers of the brain are."

The purpose of this study has been to discover what characteristics of intelligent behavior must be given to computers in order to make them intelligent. I conclude that computers will think when they can have a full social interaction with human beings because they will then have the right kind of body.

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