PHL 361, Philosophy of Mind Dr.
Poston
T,R 11 to 12:15 HUM
124
Office Hours: M-F 2 to 3 & by appt. Phone:
460-6248
Email: mylastname@jaguar1.usouthal.edu
Course Webpage: http://www.southalabama.edu/philosophy/poston/mind361.htm
Course
Description: Science has unlocked deep mysteries to the
universe. Yet science is powerless to
explain facts about the mind. We know
that the brain is intimately related to the mind, but there are compelling
intuitions that suggest that the mind is distinct from the brain. You could know everything there is to know
about the brain and yet if you never experienced Mahler’s 5th
symphony you wouldn’t know what it’s like to experience it. Also, even if we knew that anyone in a
specific brain state was undergoing intense pleasure, we could still imagine other beings in that brain state
that had no conscious experience. Further,
even if we knew that every person in a specific brain state was in pain, we
would not know why that
particular state felt like this. In short, there are significant barriers to a
complete scientific understanding of the mind.
In the first half of the course we shall examine these intuitions,
positions on the nature of the mind, and standard problems with those
positions. In the second part of the
course we shall turn to puzzles about intentionality. A distinctive feature the mind is that mental
states are about things. Mental states have content or meaning. How do mental states acquire these
contents? What is the nature of mental
states? Do we have a special kind of
knowledge of our own mental states? We
shall aim to make some progress on understanding the nature of
intentionality.
Text:
David Chalmers, ed. Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings, New
York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Evaluation:
Reading
Summaries (Due
in class)
A reading summary consists of (i) a
statement of the author’s thesis, that is, what he is arguing for or
against. Occasionally this may include
more than one statement. Also, sometimes
you will have to paraphrase the author’s thesis. Reading summaries also include (ii) a sketch
of the author’s main argument for his thesis.
In the remainder of the summary (remember you have at most 500 words) explain the rationale of the major
premises and any problems you see with the author’s argument.
Many of our
readings will be difficult. However, it
should be fairly easy to get the main gist of the article. For instance, if an article is on behaviorism
you should be able to determine whether the author is in favor of behaviorism
or against it. In cases where you don’t
know what the article is getting at, just say that and try to explain some of
the reasons for your bafflement.
These summaries are
intended to encourage you to wrestle with these readings. Each essay is central to the development of
the philosophy of mind and deserves careful scrutiny. Writing on an article forces you to be clear about your reaction to the article
and your sense of what the author has accomplished (or failed to
accomplish). These summaries are also
intended to improve your ability to write about and explain complicated issues.
There will be 10 article summaries (500 word
limit). They will be graded as follows:
Quizzes
We will have 10 quizzes. The quizzes will cover aspects of our reading
and lectures. For instance, I may ask you
to explain the difference between behaviorism and functionalism. Or I might ask you to state the multiple
realizability objection to the identity theory.
These quizzes are intended to test your comprehension of basic and
central elements in the readings. If you
do the reading, come to class, and get the basics then you should do well on
these quizzes.
Midterm
The midterm will be a mixture of true/false,
multiple choice, short answer, and essay.
Final
Exam
(Thursday December 3rd 10:30 to 12:30)
The final exam will be cumulative. The exam will be a mixture of true/false,
multiple choice, short answer, and essay.
Argumentative
Paper
(Due Sunday December 6th by 11:59pm – Absolutely no late paper will be accepted)
You shall formulate a thesis statement, argue
for it, and defend it from possible objections.
Your discussion should manifest a good understanding of the relevant
literature—you’ll gain this understanding from our readings and class
discussion. I will give you a list of
topics. Before you begin writing confirm
your topic with me. If you would like to
pursue a different topic than one I have given then discuss it with me. The paper shall be no more than 2000
words. Use footnotes with standard
documentation practices (e.g., MLA).
Statement of Grading Criteria:
A :
the essay adequately states and defends an argument, and answers the
counterexamples and counter arguments suggested by the lectures and the
readings; it shows knowledge of the topic, is well structured and well written.
B: the essay contains an
argument, it shows a satisfactory knowledge of the subject, but it does not
account for all the counter examples and counter arguments suggested by the
readings and the lectures. The main claims are not adequately supported by textual
evidence.
C: The essay states an argument
or thesis, but its supporting premises are missing, or incorrect, or not
sufficiently specific. It is not well structured and it is poorly written
D: The essay makes no serious
attempt to frame an argument or defend a thesis. It simply describes the
readings or lectures, and includes several errors. It fails to address the
question posed, it lacks structure, and it is poorly written.
F: The essay completely ignores
the questions set, or it contains very serious errors in reasoning, and shows
no knowledge of the subject. /The essay is incomprehensible due to errors in
language and usage./ The essay violates the requirements of academic integrity
Attendance
& Participation
Attendance and participation are crucial. Each lecture will introduce new
concepts. Moreover, this class is a mix
of lecture and discussion. The lectures
will not only set the context for the readings, but also explain the arguments
and ideas supporting various positions.
The task of evaluating these arguments and ideas, though, will be a
joint venture. As a result, we will
spend much of our time discussing the reasoning behind certain positions.
Teaching
Philosophy
The kind of courses I like are one’s in which
I learn a lot, courses that I come out of with a good grasp of the logical
space of the field—the issues that divide up the field and the possible
positions. I like to read the very best
articles and books in the field and think really
hard about those and read nothing else. It’s important to think on your own about issues in an informed way. The way I do that is to read the very best
literature and think hard about that. I
don’t like to read too much—information overload. I try to set up the readings and writing
assignments with this in mind. You’ll
write A LOT in my course. But this is to
achieve the goal of thoroughly understanding the articles we will be reading. You don’t understand a position until you can
clearly explain it in writing. Also, you
don’t understand a philosophical issue until you know all the arguments for it
and against it.
About class dynamics, I like to focus on the
arguments for and against positions. I
encourage lots of questions. If there’s
anything you don’t understand—and there will be lots of things—circle the word
or paragraph and ask me in class. It’s
very important to ask lots of questions.
We aim for good discussions in class.
Come prepared. I’ll ask you about
your take on arguments or key premises; how you think a position should be
developed; how you think one should argue for a claim; whether a key premise is
reasonable; etc. If you don’t come
prepared then a lot of these questions will fall on deaf ears. Let’s have a good time. We get to think about some fundamental and
very difficult philosophical problems!
Reading
Schedule (Subject to change)
|
Section |
Readings |
Assignments |
|
|
Tuesday, 8.18 |
Introduction |
||
|
Thursday, 8.20 |
Dualism |
Rene Descartes, Meditations on First
Philosophy (II and VI)* |
S1 |
|
Tuesday, 8.25 |
Behaviorism |
Ryle, "Descartes' myth" &
Carnap, "Psychology in physical language" |
Q1 |
|
Thursday, 8.27 |
Behaviorism |
Hilary Putnam, “Brains and behavior”* |
S2 |
|
Tuesday, 9.01 |
The identity theory |
Place, "Is consciousness a brain process?"
& Feigl, "The
"mental" and the "physical"" |
Extra Credit
Opportunity |
|
Thursday, 9.03 |
The identity theory |
J. J. C. Smart, Sensations and brain
processes |
Q2 |
|
Tuesday, 9.08 |
Functionalism |
Putnam, "The nature of mental
states"* & Armstrong "The causal theory of the mind" |
S3 |
|
Thursday, 9.10 |
Functionalism |
Block "Troubles with
functionalism" |
Extra Credit
Opportunity |
|
Tuesday, 9.15 |
Functionalism |
Nida-Rümelin, "Pseudonormal vision: An
actual case of qualia inversion?" |
Q3 |
|
Thursday, 9.17 |
Review Day |
Review |
Review |
|
Tuesday, 9.22 |
Multiple Realization |
Fodor, "Special sciences"* |
S4 |
|
Thursday, 9.24 |
Multiple Realization |
Kim, "Multiple realization and the
metaphysics of reduction" |
Q4 |
|
Tuesday, 9.29 |
Recap |
Recap
& Prep for midterm |
Q5 |
|
Thursday, 10.01 |
Recap |
Recap
& Prep for midterm *Summary* on
Chalmers’ handout |
S5 |
|
Tuesday, 10.06 |
Midterm |
Midterm |
Midterm |
|
Thursday, 10.08 |
Intentionality |
Brentano, "Mental and physical
phenomena" & Chisholm, "Intentional inexistence" |
|
|
Tuesday, 10.13 |
Intentionality |
Dretske, "A recipe for thought"* |
S6 |
|
Thursday, 10.15 |
Intentionality |
Millikan, "Biosemantics" |
Q6 |
|
Tuesday, 10.20 |
Intentionality |
Brandom, "Reasoning and
representing" |
Q7 |
|
Thursday, 10.22 |
Intentionality |
Brandom, "Reasoning and
representing" |
|
|
Tuesday, 10.27 |
Intentionality |
Horgan & Tienson, "The
intentionality of phenomenology and the phenomenology of
intentionality"* |
S7 |
|
Thursday, 10.29 |
Propositional attitudes |
Sellars, "Empiricism and the
philosophy of mind" |
Q8 |
|
Tuesday, 11.03 |
Propositional attitudes |
Fodor, "Propositional attitudes"* |
S8 |
|
Thursday, 11.05 |
Propositional attitudes |
Dennett, "True believers: The
intentional strategy and why it works" |
Extra Credit
Opportunity |
|
Tuesday, 11.10 |
Propositional attitudes |
Celebration of Tropical Storm Ida |
|
|
Thursday, 11.12 |
Propositional attitudes |
Churchland, "Eliminative materialism
and the propositional attitudes" |
Q9 |
|
Tuesday, 11.17 |
Internalism & Externalism |
Putnam, "The meaning of
'meaning'"* |
S9 |
|
Thursday, 11.19 |
Internalism & Externalism |
Burge, "Individualism and the
mental" |
Q10 |
|
Tuesday, 11.24 |
Internalism & Externalism |
McKinsey “Anti-Individualism and Privileged
Access” and Brueckner “What an Anti-Individualist Knows A Priori” (Combined summary
on McKinsey and Brueckner) |
S10 |
|
Tuesday, 12.01 |
REVIEW |
REVIEW FOR FINAL |
REVIEW |
|
Thursday, 12.03 |
Final Exam |
Final Exam 10:30 to
12:30 |
|
|
Sunday, 12.06 |
Final Paper |
Final paper due |