ChatGPT 4 Answers Philosophical Questions

Sam26

I'm doing this to see how well it understands philosophy.

First question:

What is truth as a matter of philosophical inquiry?

ChatGPT 4's answer

Truth as a matter of philosophical inquiry is a complex and multifaceted concept that has been extensively analyzed and debated across various branches of philosophy. Key aspects of this inquiry include:

1) Nature of Truth:

Correspondence Theory: Truth is a matter of how statements correspond to or reflect reality. A statement is true if it accurately describes a state of affairs in the world.

Coherence Theory: Truth is a matter of logical consistency within a set of beliefs or propositions. A statement is true if it coherently fits within an entire system of beliefs.

Pragmatic Theory: Truth is defined by the practical consequences of belief. A statement is true if it proves useful or works in practice.

Deflationary or Minimalist Theories: Truth is not a substantial property but merely a linguistic convenience. Saying a statement is true is just an endorsement of the statement itself.

2) Epistemological Aspects:

Justification: Investigates how beliefs are justified or supported by evidence and reason, affecting their claim to truth.

Knowledge: Explores the relationship between truth and knowledge, often summarized in the traditional definition of knowledge as "justified true belief."

3) Semantic and Logical Dimensions:

Meaning: Examines how the meaning of terms and propositions relates to their truth conditions.

Truth-Value: Considers the binary nature of truth in classical logic, where statements are either true or false, and explores alternatives like many-valued or fuzzy logic.

4) Metaphysical Considerations:

Realism vs. Anti-Realism: Debates whether truths are mind-independent (realism) or dependent on conceptual schemes or human practices (anti-realism).

Objective vs. Subjective Truth: Explores whether truths are universally objective or vary with perspectives and contexts.

5) Philosophical Problems and Paradoxes:

Liar Paradox: "This statement is false" creates a paradoxical situation where the statement cannot consistently be true or false.

Gettier Problem: Challenges the traditional definition of knowledge by presenting scenarios where justified true belief does not seem to constitute knowledge.

6) Ethical and Aesthetic Truths:

Moral Truth: Investigates whether there are objective truths in ethics or whether moral statements are subjective or relative.

Aesthetic Truth: Considers whether statements about beauty and art can be true or false and what criteria might apply.

Summary

Philosophical inquiry into truth involves analyzing its nature, justification, and implications across various domains. It seeks to understand what truth is, how we ascertain it, and what it means for statements, beliefs, and knowledge claims to be true. Different theories and approaches offer diverse perspectives on these fundamental questions.
___________________________________________

I think it's a pretty good answer, what do you think, and what other questions would you like it to answer?

frank

I think it's a pretty good answer, what do you think, and what other questions would you like it to answer? — Sam26

Ask it if AI generated art can be meaningful if the input is meaningless.

Pierre-Normand

I think it's a pretty good answer, what do you think, and what other questions would you like it to answer? — Sam26

When you frame your query in this way, it tends to provide an summary overview of the mainstream positions on the topic, in an unopinionated fashion. You can also provide it with passages from Aristotle, Kant, Wittgenstein, Heidegger or whoever you are interested in, and ask it to explain or elaborate on the idea being expressed.

The way I most enjoy interacting with GPT-4 (or Claude 3 Opus) is to challenge it to discover how one idea from one philosopher, or one specific philosophical these, bears on another one, where a parallel between them already strikes you as being significant. Oftentimes, it will find on its own the parallel you were thinking about and sometimes provide insightful elaborations. When it fails to immediately find the relevant parallel, you can provide a subtle hint and it seldom fails a second time.

Overall, when philosophical topics are at issue, I think those cutting edge large language models are better used cooperatively as conversational AI assistants/partners than as fancy search engines or oracles.

Sam26

Question:

Can AI-generated art be meaningful if the input is meaningless?

Chat GPT 4's answer:

AI-generated art can still be meaningful even if the input is seemingly meaningless. The meaning in art often emerges through various channels, and several factors can contribute to the perceived meaning of AI-generated art:

1) Interpretation by the Viewer:

Subjective Interpretation: Viewers bring their own experiences, emotions, and perspectives to the interpretation of art. Even if the input is meaningless, viewers may find patterns, evoke emotions, or derive personal meaning from the output.

Contextual Meaning: The context in which the art is presented can imbue it with meaning. For example, the title, setting, or accompanying narrative can influence how the art is perceived and interpreted.

2) Artistic Process and Creativity:

Algorithmic Creativity: The process by which the AI generates the art can be seen as a form of creativity, where the AI explores patterns, styles, and combinations that may not have been considered by human artists.

Emergent Properties: The art may exhibit emergent properties or unexpected features that create a sense of meaning or aesthetic value, even if the initial input lacks clear intent or meaning.

3) Role of the Creator:

Curatorial Role: The person or team guiding the AI may select, curate, and present the output in ways that highlight certain aspects, adding layers of meaning.

Intentional Constraints: Even with a seemingly meaningless input, the constraints and parameters set by the creator can shape the output in meaningful ways.

4) Cultural and Social Impact:

Cultural Reflection: AI-generated art can reflect contemporary cultural, technological, and social themes, prompting viewers to consider the relationship between technology and creativity.

Discussion and Debate: The existence of AI-generated art itself can provoke discussions about the nature of art, creativity, and the role of artificial intelligence in human endeavors, adding to its significance.

5) Aesthetic Value:

Visual Appeal: The aesthetic qualities of the art, such as color, form, and composition, can create a sense of beauty or intrigue, leading to an appreciation that goes beyond the input’s meaning.

Summary
AI-generated art can achieve meaning through interpretation, context, the artistic process, the role of the creator, its cultural and social impact, and its aesthetic qualities. Even if the initial input is meaningless, these factors can contribute to the emergence of meaningful and impactful art.

Sam26

↪Pierre-Normand

I've been using GPT 3.5 for about six months, but this is a bit better in some subjects, and a lot better in others. Overall, it does a very good job.

frank

↪Sam26

That's freaking bizarre. Who's viewpoint is that?

Sam26

↪frank

Note that the AI answered that "seemingly meaningless" input can be meaningful, if it was completely meaningless it would be a different answer.

Pierre-Normand

I've been using GPT 3.5 for about six months, but this is a bit better in some subjects, and a lot better in others. Overall, it does a very good job. — Sam26

GPT-4 is somewhat better than GPT-3.5 are retrieving or reconstructing information from its training data. When it comes to reasoning, explaining, elaborating, understanding, etc., especially when the topic has any level of complexity, GPT-4 is almost immeasurably better than GPT 3.5!

Sam26

↪frank

The AI generated the answer.

frank

The AI generated the answer. — Sam26

I know, but how?

Sam26

↪Pierre-Normand

Agreed.

Vera Mont

I think it's a pretty good answer, what do you think, and what other questions would you like it to answer? — Sam26

It doesn't actually answer the question; it gives you a menu from a 101 textbook on philosophy or art theory. To that extent, it's useful.

Pierre-Normand

I know, but how? — frank

Are you asking how LLM-based chatbots work?

Sam26

↪Vera Mont

It gives you a menu of possible answers based on different philosophical theories. I was thinking about asking it which theory of truth it thinks best describes what truth is.

frank

Are you asking how LLM-based chatbots work? — Pierre-Normand

I guess I am? How does it create such a detailed answer? Is it quoting someone in particular?

Sam26

↪frank

The way I understand it, is that it has access to a huge database of possible answers across the internet, but I'm not completely sure. The programming is beyond what I know.

Tzeentch

Sam26

Pierre-Normand

I guess I am? How does it create such a detailed answer? Is it quoting someone in particular? — frank

It isn't quoting anyone in particular. If you make it regenerate its response several times, it will produce different answers worded differently albeit often reflecting the most relevant pieces of knowledge that were present in its training data. But the patterns that underlie the generation of its answers are very abstract and are able to capture the meaning of your query together with the logical, semantic, pragmatic and even rational structure of the texts that it had been trained on, and reproduce those "patterns" in the response that it constructs. This isn't much different from the way the human mind works.

jorndoe

Attributions toward artificial agents in a modified Moral Turing Test
^{— Eyal Aharoni, Sharlene Fernandes, Daniel J Brady, Caelan Alexander, Michael Criner, Kara Queen, Javier Rando, Eddy Nahmias, Victor Crespo · Scientific Reports · Apr 30, 2024}

The study employed a variation of the Turing test where participants were unaware of the AI’s involvement, focusing instead on the quality of the responses.

Remarkably, they rated the AI’s moral reasoning as superior in quality to humans’ along almost all dimensions, including virtuousness, intelligence, and trustworthiness, consistent with passing what Allen and colleagues call the comparative MTT. — Amanda Head · Neuroscience News · May 6, 2024

Anyway, when are they going to task AI with developing AI? :)

Pierre-Normand

The way I understand it, is that it has access to a huge database of possible answers across the internet, but I'm not completely sure. — Sam26

GPT-4 and some other chatbots can access the internet using external tools, but the fundamental process of generating responses is a bit different from just pulling information from a database or the internet.

When GPT-4 was trained, it processed a vast amount of text data from various sources, including books, articles, and websites. During this process, it learns to recognize and capture abstract patterns in language, such as grammar, semantics, logic, etc. These patterns are then stored in the model's parameters, which are essentially the "knowledge" it has acquired.

When a user asks GPT-4 a question, the model combines the user's query with its pre-existing knowledge to generate a response. It doesn't simply search for and retrieve an answer from a database or the internet. Instead, it uses the patterns it has learned to construct a new, original response that is relevant to the user's query.

So, while GPT-4 can access the internet for additional information, its primary method of generating responses relies on the abstract patterns it has learned during training. As I mentioned above, this process is somewhat similar to how the human mind works – we don't just recall memorized information, but we use our understanding of language and concepts to formulate new thoughts and ideas.

Vera Mont

I was thinking about asking it which theory of truth it thinks best describes what truth is. — Sam26

That's worth a shot. You can read a menu outside on the restaurant wall; that doesn't mean the food's any good.

Paine

↪Sam26

My problem with those answers is that it treats all of those categories as accepted individual domains when so much of philosophy involves disputing the conditions of equivalence implied in such a list.

Sam26

↪Pierre-Normand

Thanks for the explanation.

Pierre-Normand

My problem with those answers is that it treats all of those categories as accepted individual domains when so much of philosophy involves disputing the conditions of equivalence implied in such a list. — Paine

It prefaced its listing of the various aspects and theories with the mention that they are a matter of debate and concludes that "[d]ifferent theories and approaches offer diverse perspectives." How much more hedging do you want it to make?

Sam26

↪Paine

I think it's a good general answer. We could get more nuanced answers if we choose to pursue the question in more detail.

Paine

↪Pierre-Normand

I don't want it to do a better job of grouping ideas so as to find the most general point of view. I question the value of the most general point of view. It leads towards distinctions without a difference.

Sam26

I asked it to pick one of the theories above that best describes how we use the concept truth. This isn't the complete answer, but the summary.

GPT's Answer:

If I were to choose the theory that seems to best fit the general concept and common usage of truth across various contexts, I would lean towards the Correspondence Theory. It aligns with the intuitive and widely accepted notion that truth involves a relationship between statements and the actual state of affairs in the world. This theory provides a straightforward framework for understanding truth in empirical, scientific, and everyday contexts, where verifying statements against reality is fundamental.

However, it’s important to acknowledge that different theories may be more suitable in specific contexts, and a pluralistic approach that incorporates elements from multiple theories might offer a more comprehensive understanding of truth.

Pierre-Normand

I don't want it to do a better job of grouping ideas so as to find the most general point of view. — Paine

The way I read its response, it didn't even attempt to provide, or even gesture towards, any kind of a synthesis. It merely provided a useful survey of the the usual theories and aspects of the question that are being discussed in the literature. It's not generally able to make up its own mind about the preferable approaches nor does it have any inclination to do so. But it is able to engage in further discussion on any one the particular theories that it mentioned, its rationales and the objections usually raised against it.

In any case, you shouldn't consider it to be authoritative on any particular topic. You shouldn't (and likely wouldn't) consider any user of TPF or of any other online discussion forum to be authoritative either. Nothing trumps critical engagement with primary sources.

Pierre-Normand

GPT's Answer:

If I were to choose the theory that seems to best fit the general concept and common usage of truth across various contexts, I would lean towards the Correspondence Theory. — Sam26

Damn. My least favorite ;-)

Paine

↪Pierre-Normand

I don't consider it authoritative. I view it as a summarizing algorithm to produce Cliff notes.

ChatGPT 4 Answers Philosophical Questions

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