Patrick Reany
3/29/2023
I gave a seemingly easy philosophical question to BingChat and ChatGPT, not to get
the true answer back, but just to examine how they reason. And they seem to reason
pretty well. ChatGPT took a little longer to reply, but it gave a little 'deeper'
analysis. I rate them both 5 points out of 5 for their analysis.
On 3/15/2023, I gave this problem to BingChat to reply to:
Patrick: John believes that he has no free will. John also claims that he feels compelled
to tell other people that he does have free will. Is there a logical problem here?
BingChat replied:
There is a logical problem here. John believes that he has no free will, but heThis is a remarkable answer for a machine.
also claims that he feels compelled to tell other people that he does have free will.
This is a contradiction because if John truly believes that he has no free will, then
he should not feel compelled to tell other people that he does have free will. This
is because he would not have the free will to make such a decision. Therefore,
there is a logical problem in John's beliefs and claims.
I can think of at least two meanings to John reporting that he feels compelled to speak
out. 1) John cannot explain why he feels compelled to so speak: it just happens. 2) John
knows precisely why he feels compelled to speak out. He feels that it comes out of his
sense of honesty. In other words, though John has accepted determinism at the theoretical
level, he nevertheless feels that only by confessing to other people that, since he feels
that he has free will, he feels the need 'to confess to others that he has free will'. John is
in a state of cognitive dissonance.
Final comment: BingChat seems to suggest that if Determinism is true, no one could
believe that it is not true. In other words, the existence of Determinism precludes
the ability of anyone to believe in free will. Oh well, don't feel too bad, BingChat,
because we all have trouble dealing with this troublesome concept.
On 3/29/2023, I gave the same problem to ChatGPT to reply to:
Patrick: John believes that he has no free will. John also claims that he feels compelled
to tell other people that he does have free will. Is there a logical problem here?
ChatGPT replied:
Yes, there is a logical problem in John's beliefs and claims. If John truly believes
that he has no free will, then his claim that he feels compelled to tell other people
that he has free will is contradictory. It implies that John has some control over
his actions and beliefs, and that he has the ability to resist or choose not to express
his belief in free will.Furthermore, if John believes that he has no free will, then he should not feel
compelled to do anything, including expressing his beliefs about free will. His
belief that he is compelled to express his belief in free will contradicts his belief
that he has no free will.Therefore, John's beliefs and claims are self-contradictory, and it is logically
problematic for him to hold both beliefs simultaneously.
Bravo to both chatbots!
So, can chatbots aid in the pursuit of philosophical knowledge and wisdom? Maybe.
At the very least, they tend to bring in an air of impartiality that is so needed
at this point.