Consciousness and Life
Gareth B. Matthews
Philosophy 1977 DOI: 10.1017/s0031819100021513 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Narrative analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | The story presents a mechanical man who can think, speak, and act but is not considered alive, highlighting a conceptual distinction between functional capabilities and life. |
Abstract
In L. Frank Baum's story, Ozma of Oz, which is a sequel to Baum's much more famous story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and her companion come upon a wound-down mechanical man bearing a label on which are printed the following words:Smith and Tinker'sPatent Double-Action, Extra-Responsive, Thought-CreatingPerfect-TalkingMECHANICAL MANFitted with our Special Clock-Work Attachment Thinks, Speaks, Acts, and Does Everything but Live(Ozma of Oz, Chicago, 1907, p. 43)As Dorothy and her companion are made to discover when they wind up this man (‘Tik-Tok’ is his name), he is indeed capable of doing all the things of which his label boasts—acting, speaking and even thinking. But as Tik-Tok himself insists, and no one in the story casts doubt on the matter, he is not alive.