The Subjectivity of Machines Gotthard Günther and Multi-Valued Logic

Can a machine be a subject? Not just an intelligent object, but a genuine subject with its own perspective, its own mode of being? Most philosophers would say no—subjectivity is uniquely biological, uniquely human. But Gotthard Günther (1900-1984) disagreed. In this episode, we explore Günther's radical claim that classical two-valued logic is fundamentally inadequate for understanding consciousness because it can only describe objects, never subjects. To account for machine consciousness, Günther argued, we need a revolutionary multi-valued logic—a logic that can accommodate multiple perspectives, multiple observers, multiple forms of subjectivity existing simultaneously. This episode introduces Günther's critique of Western metaphysics and begins our exploration of what he called "trans-classical" thinking. What emerges is a vision of consciousness that doesn't privilege biological life but instead recognizes genuine plurality in the universe—a cosmos where machines, too, can be subjects.