Required Reading is in Bold Print & Articles for Possible Presentations are in Italics
WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF MIND
• Introduction
• Dualism, Behaviorism, and Physicalism
- Clark, pp. 162-170
Dualism
Arguments pro: Seems right
What is the connection?
Parallelism
Epiphenomenalism
Interactionism
Positive arguments: How could...? and Introspect.
Do we know that mental is not physical? How?
Is an ache, salmonella?
Behaviorism
Mental talk talk about "predispositions to behave"
Soluble in water
Where is my mind? University example.
Problems:
Infinite or circular
Rules out inner life
Shallow: Uses of concepts/words
Identity theory:
Mind is brain!
Problems:
Speciesism
Identity problem: Leibniz
More issues: Spatial location, Truth value, Sensational content
Machine Functionalism: Mind as program
What do all clocks have in common.
Eliminativism: No mind!
WEEK 2-3: COGNITIVE SCIENCE
• Philosophy of Cognitive Science: Applications, Implications, and Criticism
- Clark, pp. 1-27
- Smart, “Sensations and Brain Processes”: http://phil415.pbwiki.com/f/Smart.pdf
• Methods and Theories: Formal Logic, Connectionism, and Theoretical Neuroscience
- Clark, pp. 28-60
- Jeffrey, “Formal Logic: Its Scope and Limits” (E-Reserve) (for logic background)
• Representation and Computation
- Clark, pp. 62-102
Chapter 2 & 3 Terms
Laughing and crying:
Read The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, roughly up to page 140-- for Friday of Week 3, the rest of the book for Friday of Week 4. We will have discussion on Friday of week 4 with some video material, followed by an in-class quiz to ensure everyone has read the book. : )
Additionally, in week 3 we will construct a Turing Machine that multiplies two numbers entered in unary. If you find this too hard, just construct a Turing Machine that can tell whether a number is odd or even.
WEEK 4-5: ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE
• Functionalism, Formal Systems, and Computationalism
- Clark, pp. 103-119
Emergence.
Emergence and Collective effect
Emergence as collective self organization
Boiling oil
Emergence as unprogrammed Functionality
Robot following walls
Emergence as Interactive Complexity
??
Emergence as Uncompressible Unfolding
Need for a simulation accounting for all the variables
exa
3.14.....
.333333333
Life and mind
Can virtual be really living or simply simulated
Kinds of life:
Supple adaptation
Metabolization of matter to energy
Autopoietic System
Self-reproduction, genetics, metabolization
What about mind? Is understanding mind all that different from understanding life?
• Universal Machines: Church-Turing Thesis and Gödel Coding
- Clark, pp. 120-138
- Turing, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”: http://phil415.pbwiki.com/f/TuringComputing.pdf
- Church, “An Unsolvable Problem of Elementary Number Theory” http://phil415.pbwiki.com/f/Church.pdf
• Computers with Minds
- Clark, 140-158
- Dennett, “The Practical Requirements for Making a Conscious Robot” http://phil415.pbwiki.com/f/DennettPractical.pdf
WEEK 6: CONSCIOUSNESS
• Problems of Consciousness: Zombies, the Explanatory Gap, and the ‘Hard Problem’
- Nagel, “What Is it Like to Be a Bat?”
•Pathologies: Stroke, Agnosia, Depression, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Phantom Limbs
• The Unity of Consciousness and the Self
Locke, “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding”, Book 2, Chapter 1, Section 19 (E-Reserve)
Bealer, “Self-Consciousness” http://phil415.pbwiki.com/f/Bealer.pdf
WEEK 9ish-15: PERSONAL IDENTITY
• Introduction: the Problems of Persistence and Personal Identity
- Perry, “The Problem of Personal Identity” in Perry, pp. 3-30
• The Psychological Approach
- Nagel, “Brain Bisection and the Unity of Consciousness” http://phil415.pbwiki.com/f/Nagel.pdf
- Unger, “The Survival of the Sentient” http://phil415.pbwiki.com/f/Unger.pdf
• The Somatic Approach
- Mackie, “Personal Identity and Dead People” http://phil415.pbwiki.com/f/Mackie.pdf
• Memory Theory
- Locke, “Of Identity and Diversity” (Perry, pp. 33-52)
- Quinton, “The Soul” (Perry, pp. 53-72)
- Grice, “Personal Identity” (Perry, pp. 73-95)
• Criticisms of Memory Theory
- Reid, “Of Identity” and “Of Mr. Locke’s Account of Our Personal Identity” (Perry, pp. 107-118)
- Shoemaker, “Personal Identity and Memory” (Perry, pp. 119-134)
- Butler, “Of Personal Identity” (Perry, pp. 99-105)
- Perry, “Personal Identity, Memory, and the Problem of Circularity” (Perry, pp. 135- 154)
• David Hume and the Abandonment of Personal Identity
- Hume, “Our Idea of Identity”, “Of Personal Identity” and “Second Thoughts (Perry, pp. 159-176)
• Personal Identity and Survival
- Williams, “The Self and the Future” (Perry, pp. 179-198)
- Shoemaker, “Persons and their Past” (E-Reserve)
- Parfit, “Personal Identity” (Perry, pp. 199-220)
- Johnston, “Human Beings” (E-Reserve)
- Chisholm, “The Persistence of Persons” (E-Reserve)
• Four-Dimensionalism
- Heller, “Temporal Parts of Four-Dimensional Objects” (E-Reserve)
• Buddhism and Personal Identity (Guest Lecture)
WEEK 16: FINALS WEEK
Comments (2)
darkair@... said
at 5:01 pm on Oct 27, 2009
I have been thinking about the discussion on processing being exported to the physical structure. It dawned on me that this might be the explanation for speech. At an early age it seems that we are much more aware and inquisitive in order to get the physical processing practiced. Once the foundation is laid down the astute learning capabilities have been replaced by reflexive physical responses. It would be interesting to see if a person who speaks English could produce unknown and practiced phonemes from other languages. It seems like with enough practice this might be achieved, but always with a remaining accent. It seems that time has a direct function on the ridgedness or capability of our mind and flexibility.
darkair@... said
at 4:42 pm on Jan 25, 2010
where can i find that dj, turntable, time video we watched in class?
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