Philosophy of Mind Fall 2010

J.B. WHITE MS MA PHD - COURSE ADMINISTRATOR

jbenjaminwhite@mail.com

Philosophy of Mind has been deeply affected by recent developments in the cognitive sciences,
especially in artificial intelligence and neurology. Interestingly, these changes have returned theorists
working in the field to old, even ancient, themes and ideas, rather than create entirely new approaches.
This course will provide a survey of fundamental movements in the conception of mind: mind/body
interaction, consciousness, representation, and intentionality. The final weeks will be committed to
theories of mind in artificial intelligence.

COURSE MATERIALS:
I will email edited copies of all reading materials the weekend before the reading assignments
must be done. On these edited copies, I will highlight important passages, and make notes to aid you in
your reading. It is important that you study these passages and notes, as this core material will form the
basis for the midterm and final exams, as well as provide important clues for the satisfactory
completion of mini-essay assignments.

NOTE: Additional resources can always be used at your discretion. Any use of appropriate resources
will figure favorably into the assessment of your performance (i.e. grade). If you have any questions
about course materials, please do not hesitate to contact me. Remember always to cite any resources
used in the course of preparing an assignment. If you are found to have taken substantially from
outside sources without due credit, then you will fail that assignment. Serious infractions may also lead
to further unpleasant consequences.

EXAMS:
There will be a midterm and a final exam. Exams will be in traditional exam format: some
multiple choice, some True or False, and some short answer questions. They will be comprehensive,
meaning that all materials covered can appear on either exam. These exams may be either take-home
or in-class. We will decide on which together. Bear in mind that take-home exams will be larger and
more difficult than in-class exams.

QUIZZES:
There will be a number of quizzes. Some may be announced. Some may be “pop” quizzes.
Quizzes will always be over the materials for that week. For example, a quiz during week three will
cover week two and week three materials, a quiz during week seven will cover week six and week
seven materials, and so on... (Hint – If there is little else scheduled for that week, there is likely to be a
quiz... However, they may show up at any time, and may cover any course topic.)

MINI-ESSAYS:
There will be a number of short essays due during weeks specified in the schedule, below.
These should be a maximum of 1 page, covering the topics as described. These essays will give you
the chance to form your own ideas about class materials, and then practice writing about these ideas in
English. This is an important skill. If you are not satisfied with your score on an essay, then it may be
redone. The second score is limited. For example, if you score a 6/10 on a mini-essay, you may redo it
for a possible 8. All rewrites will be due before final exam week.
GRADING:

ATTENDANCE: 10%
MINI-ESSAYS: 20%
MIDTERM: 25%
FINAL: 30%
POP QUIZZES: 15%

NOTE: The following schedule will probably change. Always, at the beginning of a semester, I want
to cover a lot of material. However, as we get into the semester, there is a tendency for things to get in
the way. SO, it is likely that some of the following assignments will be canceled, merged with other
assignments, or rearranged to suit our schedules. Class attendance is important...

Week TOPIC ASSIGNMENT

1,2 “Modern” views Lecture on mind/body (Malebranche, Descartes,
Berkeley)
Lecture on psychology (James, Nietzsche, Freud)
Read Katsafanas. “Nietzsche's Philosophical
Psychology” (This paper includes a good section on
the history of some important concepts.)

3 Overview of Issues Lecture on topics covered in:

1 - Kulvicki, “Introspective Availability.”
2 – Horst, “Naturalisms in Philosophy of Mind.”
3 - Brook and Mandik, “The Philosophy and
Neuroscience Movement”
Read Wilson, “Philosophy of Psychology.”
Quiz – Name and describe the three major issues
discussed in Wilson.

4 Holiday week Read selections from Plato's Philebus.

Mini-essay: Describe Socrates' philosophy of
mind.

5 Representation, conceptual Lecture on topics covered in:

1 - Chalmers, “The Representational Character of
Experience.”
2 - Clancey, “Situated Cognition: How
Representations are Created and Given Meaning.”
Read Roth, “Representation: Philosophical Issues
About.”
Mini-essay: What is representation? What are the
philosophical issues having to do with
representation?

6 Representation, symbolic Lecture on topics covered in:

1 - Harnad, “There is Only One Mind/Body
Problem.”
2 - Corballis, “The Gestural Origins of
 Language.”
Read Harnad, “The Symbol Grounding Problem”
Mini-essay: What is the symbol grounding
problem? How does Harnad solve this problem?
Does the gestural origin of language confirm or
deny his proposal?

MIDTERM

7,8 Consciousness Lecture on topics covered in:

1 - De Brigard and Prinz, “Attention and
Consciousness.”
2 - Bayne and Chalmers, “What is the Unity of
Consciousness?”
3 - Lycan, “Is Property Dualism Better Off than
Substance Dualism?”
4 – Chalmers “Moving Forward on the
Problem of Consciousness.”
Read Chalmers, “Facing up to the Problem of
Consciousness”
Mini-essay: What is the “hard” problem of
consciousness?
Read Chalmers, “Phenomenal Concepts and the
Explanatory Gap.”
Mini-essay: What is the “explanatory gap?” Do
you think that it is a problem? If yes, why? If no,
why not?

9 Mind/Body, physicalism Lecture on topics covered in:

1 - Eliasmith, “Moving Beyond Metaphors:
Understanding the Mind for What It Is.”
2 - Melnyck, “Can Physicalism be Non-
Reductive?”
Read Raymore, “A Materialist Response to David
Chalmers' The Conscious Mind”
Mini-essay: What is materialism? How does the
materialist solve the “problem of consciousness?”

10 Mind/Body, embodiment Lecture on topics covered in:

1 - Glannon, “Our Brains are not Us.”
2 - Lavazza and De Caro, “Not so Fast. On
Some Bold Neuroscientific Claims Concerning
Human Agency”
Read Clark, “Embodiment and the Philosophy of
Mind.”
Mini-essay: What does “embodiment” entail? How
does “embodiment” differ from materialism? From
dualism?
11 Artificial Intelligence Lecture covering topics in:
1 - Sun, “Connectionist Implementation and
Hybrid Systems,”
2 – Sun, “Motivational Representations within a
Computational Cognitive Architecture.”
3 – Eliasmith, “How We Ought to Describe
Computation in the Brain.”
Read Harnad, “Computation is Just Interpretable
Symbol Manipulation; Cognition Isn't.”
Read Dennett, “The Practical Requirements for
Making a Conscious Robot.”
Mini-essay: “Can a robot have a mind? Explain.

12 Course review

FINAL EXAM

EACH ASSIGNMENT AND TOPIC WILL BE SUPPORTED BY MY LECTURES. I WILL

LECTURE EACH CLASS ON ISSUES THAT ARE RELATED TO THE READING ASSIGNMENTS
FOR THAT DAY. I WILL INTRODUCE SUPPORTING RESEARCH, AND MAKE
CONNECTIONS WITH OTHER ASSIGNMENTS THAT MIGHT NOT BE OBVIOUS. IF YOU
HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT A READING ASSIGNMENT, THEN YOU SHOULD WRITE YOUR
QUESTIONS ON NOTE PAPER, AND SUBMIT THEM TO ME AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS.
I WILL THEN ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS DURING THE LECTURE HOUR.