Phil 2151: Philosophy of Mind - Minds, Brains, and Computers

University of Minnesota, Morris
Spring 2011
Professor Collier
Tu Th 10-11:40 (Imholte 114)

Course Description: What is the place of the mind in the physical world? Could it really be the case that consciousness is nothing but a brain process? Will psychology be eliminated by future neuroscience? Is artificial intelligence possible? These are some of the questions that we will ask in this course, which serves as an introduction to the philosophy of mind.

Course Requirements: Evaluation will be based on three exams (15% each), two papers (15% each) and class participation (25%). The readings for this course are available at JSTOR or Briggs e-reserve.

Course Syllabus

Class Schedule

1. Introduction

Pryor: Philosophical Terms and Methods

2. Substance Dualism

Descartes: Selections from Principles of Philosophy

Kim: "Substance Dualism"

3. Epiphenomenalism

Descartes: Selections from Discourse on Method

Huxley: "On the Hypothesis that Animals are Automata, and its History"

4. Logical Behaviorism

Hempel: "Logical Analysis of Psychology"

5. Central State Materialism

Armstrong: "The Nature of Mind"

6. Identity Theory

Smart: "Sensations and Brain Processes"

7. Artificial Intelligence

Turing: "Computing Machinery and Intelligence"

8. Machine Functionalism

Putnam: "The Nature of Mental States"

9. Challenge to Functionalism

Searle: "Minds, Brains, and Programs"

FIRST EXAM

10. Qualia

Nagel: "What is it like to be a bat?"

11. Knowledge Argument

Jackson: "Epiphenomenal Qualia"

12. Modal Argument

Kripke: Selections from ‘Identity and Necessity’

Hill: “Imaginability, Conceivability, and the Mind-Body Problem”

13. Explanatory Gap

Levine: "Materialism and Qualia, The Explanatory Gap"

14. Mysterianism

McGinn: "Can We Solve the Mind-Body Problem?"

15. Return of the Dualists I

Chalmers: "Consciousness and Its Place in Nature" (pp. 102-115 and 119-122)

16. Return of the Dualists II

Chalmers: "Consciousness and Its Place in Nature" (pp. 123-135)

SECOND EXAM

17. Eliminative Materialism

Feyeraband: "Mental Events and the Brain" and "Materialism and the Mind-Body Problem" (sections 1-9)

18. Eliminative Materialism II

Rorty: “Mind-Body Identity, Privacy, and Categories” (pp. 25-41 and 52-54)

19. Eliminative Materialism III

Churchland: "Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes"

20. Instrumentalism

Dennett: "Intentional Systems' (pp. 87-96, up to "the vantage point of economics")

Stich: "Dennett on Intentional Systems" (pp. 87-95)

21. Simulation Theory

Stich and Nichols: "Folk Psychology: Simulation or Tacit Theory"

22. Emotions I

James: "What is an Emotion?"

23. Emotions II

Pitcher: "Emotion"

24. Emotions III

Solomon: "Emotions and Choice"

25. Emotions IV

Brock: "Fictions, Feelings, and Emotions"

26. Review Session

THIRD EXAM: Wednesday, May 11 8:30-10:30 AM