Who am I?
...Hamlet”, and the mind, he, as “Dennett”. He creates scenarios seeking to come to grips with two variables: are his thoughts located in his brain in the vat or in his body in the empty cranium. DD identifies 3 components for consideration in this discussion: the body, the brain, and the entity of the mind (consciousness). These scenarios question whether the mind, being non-spatial, stays located within the brain or travels with the physical body? “Where Hamlet goes there goes Dennett” suggests that DD’s brain could be parted from his current body and his mind would travel with Dennett wherever he goes. He refutes this theory by using a brain transplant experiment. In such an experiment if Tom and Dick switch brains, Tom will have Dick’s body. Dick will then claim to be Tom in every way. Thus, this makes it clear that DD could part with his body but not his brain. “Where Yorick goes there goes Dennett” suggests that the physical brain of DD is located in the vat and will remain there as will the mind of DD . Its functions/thoughts will be transmitted to go with the body of DD wherever it goes. This poses a dilemma. If DD’s body were to commit a crime in another state, where would he be tried? Would he be tried where the brain is or the body? Who should go to prison–the brain or the body? DD leaves the reader hanging and does not take a stance on this point of view for this thought is not at all appealing. The third alternative is “Dennett is wherever he thinks he is”. This suggests that a person’s point of view is dictated by where that person is. This generally tells us that we are where we think we are; we see things through what glasses are framing the view. He was unsure of this theory. If you are lost in the woods, it still means that your brain is lost in your body in the woods. However, a person watching a roller coaster ride in a movie still shrieks even though he is seating safely in his seat. This example gave DD hope. If he could train himself to be in the vat in spite of his intuitions, he might still be able to train himself to adopt that point of view. Could enough practice make this happen? Again, a question is posed. Without asserting which of these arguments he firmly believes, Dennett continues his story. The doctors fly him to Tulsa to complete his mission. He begins to feel comfortable with the fact that he can be in two places at once, although he still questions this possibility. As he is working to complete his task, he begins to lose one sensory function after another until he eventually discovers that Hamlet was destroyed by the radiation. DD now finds himself in Houston and his broken body is in Tulsa. His perspective has shifted. DD is now in the vat that he couldn’t place himself in earlier and is now having great difficulty placing himself in the body in Tulsa. He ponders how a physicalist philosopher could quarrel with this notion. After a prolonged “sleep”, the technicians in Houston finally revive Yorick. He is restored with a new body (Fortinbras). This body is equipped with a new brain, Hubert, which is supposedly an exact copy of Yorick. Now DD is faced with new dilemmas. There are two brains/minds and one body. Who is Yorick? Who is Hubert? Which one would be recognized as DD? He does not like the prospect of two Dennetts. As with all philosophers, DD has a need to establish what he believes to be the truth. The manner or mechanism for an individual to approach finding the truth can be recognized in different forms - a fictional story being one such form. DD clearly establishes his question- mission, “Where Am I?”; then, he takes the reader/listener on a journey seeking answers. The essential question strikes at the core of the philosophical argument of mind-body. Does the mind control the body? Does the body guide the mind? And where is the real core of a person - the true seat of the soul? During the separation, it is obvious DD’s intuitions tell him his mind is with the brain. His physical experiences tell him his mind is with his body. But, as he states, his beliefs/convictions tell him his mind/soul is the connection between the two and that both Yorick and Hamlet are needed to make Dennett. Based upon this, DD believes that the body is controlled by the brain, and that all situations can be and should be explained within the realm of physicalism - the definite connection between the mind and the body An example to support this thought occurs when DD describes that: “as my brain and body move farther and farther apart, the delicate interaction of my feedback systems is thrown into disarray by the time lags.” (5) Through this analogy, DD seeks to further substantiate his beliefs that the brain and body need to function as one together for optimal results with the mind/soul as the connecting variable. The separation of the brain from the body has a negative effect on that function. This is in opposition to say a duelist’s view who contends that the soul(mind) is distinct from the body and capable of sustaining a separate existence. Descartes espoused this line of thinking by providing a distinction between minds and bodies, “ minds are things that think but lack spatial magnitude, and bodies are things that have spatial magnitudes but don’t think.”(6) They believe human beings have two distinct sets of properties- physical properties and mental properties. DD seems to bring his argument full circle when he carries out his underground mission; he discovered his senses were being disconnected: “was faced with a new and even more shocking problem: whereas an instant before I had been buried alive in Oklahoma, now I was disembodied in Houston”(7) DD now faced the realization of a new status and experienced a shift of thinking: “The shift in perspective I had earlier found well nigh impossible now seemed quite natural. Though I could think myself back into my body in the tunnel in Tulsa, it took some effort to sustain the illusion. For surely it was an illusion to suppose I was still in Oklahoma: I had lost all contact...