Consider the following argument

Question

Consider the following argument:

It’s impossible for robots to have minds. This is because minds are identical to brains, and if minds are identical to brains—that is, if a mind is nothing over and above a physical brain—then robots cannot have minds because they don’t have brains.

1. State the conclusion of the argument.
2. Is the argument inductive or deductive?
3a. If you said inductive, is the argument strong?
3b. If you said deductive, is the argument valid?

Answer 1

(1) The conclusion is that robots can’t have minds.

(2) The argument is deductive: it concludes that it’s impossible for robots to have minds rather than improbable.

(3) The argument reconstructed is this:

1. Minds are identical to brains.
2. Robots don’t have brains.
3. So, robots don’t have minds.

This argument is valid because the conclusion has to be true IF the premises are true. In other words, it’s impossible for the conclusion to be false if the premises are true. Now there may be a false premise here, but the argument is still valid because it would have to be true that robots don’t have minds IF it were true that minds are just brains and robots don’t have brains.