Clockwork Snoopy

Here is a wind-up toy dog, Snoopy, about as big as my thumb. He stands on two legs, and when I wind him up the clockwork motor makes his legs move and he walks. When he hits an obstacle he sometimes stops, sometimes rocks gently and moves off in a different direction. If you were very simple-minded you might think Snoopy decided to stop walking, then decided to move off again; and that generally he knew what he was doing. But we know this clockwork toy really has no thoughts or feelings.

Why are we so confident? Do we know what it takes to have thoughts and feelings? Plenty of philosophers would say we do, but plenty would disagree. As a preliminary to studying the mind-body problem it will be useful to consider the following question:

Here are some of the replies people typically offer:

1. A. It isn't conscious.

2. B. It hasn't got a mind (or a soul).

3. C. It hasn't got a brain.

4. D. It's just a machine.

5. E. It's made of the wrong stuff.

6. F. It doesn't behave in the right ways.

Discussing these suggestions will help to expose some main strands in the complex tangle of the mind-body problem.