Our readings come from two required books, both available at Huntley Bookstore.

  • Textbook: David Braddon-Mitchell & Frank Jackson. (1995). Philosophy of Mind and Cognition. Blackwell.
  • Anthology: David Chalmers, ed. (2002). Philosophy of Mind: classical and contemporary readings. Oxford University Press.

A few readings will be available on the web or distributed in class.
 

Unless otherwise specified, the articles listed are in the Chalmers anthology. You should read the article and the accompanying textbook chapter before coming to class, and be prepared to discuss. Even if you have read philosophy articles before, you may find it helpful to brush up with Jim Pryor’s how to read a philosophy paper.
 
As usual, the schedule below is tentative; check this page for revisions.
 
What is the Mind? Tue 8/30 distribute syllabus; introduction
Dualism
  Thu 9/1
Tue 9/6		 Descartes, Meditations II and VI and Fourth Replies
Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapter 1, §1 (pages 1–14)
Materialism & Supervenience
  Thu 9/8 Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapter 1, §1 (pages 14–28)
Behaviorism
mind as behavior Tue 9/13 Ryle, “Descartes’s Myth”
Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapter 2
Turing test Thu 9/15 Turing, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” (web)
Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapter 7, pages 111–21
   

The Loebner Prize is an actual Turing test contest I mentioned in class.

Chat with a.l.i.c.e. and Eugene Goostman, recent Loebner Prize contestants. Also take a look at the home page for MegaHal (oh man – whoops!), the conversation simulator I will quote in class (there quoted transcripts are there, as well as the source for MegaHal, if you want to see how it works). You can also chat with ELIZA, the online therapist (thanks to Stephanie for the link).

First writing assignment due Wednesday 9/21 at noon by email.
Identity Theory
  Tue 9/20
Thu 9/22		 Smart, “Sensations and Brain Processes”
Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapter 6
Functionalism
common-sense functionalism Tue 9/27 Putnam, “The Nature of Mental States”
Armstrong, “The Causal Theory of the Mind”
Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapter 3
  Thu 9/29 class cancelled
computational functionalism Tue 10/4 Block, “What is Functionalism?” (web)
Review Turing, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” (web) — focus on §§3-5, rather than the stuff on the Turing test
    Lewis, “Psychophysical and Theoretical Identifications”
Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapter 5
Criticisms of Materialism
liberalism and chauvinism Thu 10/6
 Block, “Troubles with Functionalism”
Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapter 7, especially §§1 & 3
Chinese room Tue 10/11
Thu 10/13		 Searle, “Can Computers Think?”
Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapter 7, remainder (especially §2, “The Chinese Room”)
puzzles about the 1st Person Perspective Thu 10/20 Nagel, “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?”
Second writing assignment due Friday 10/21 at noon by email.
the knowledge Argument

Tue 10/25
Thu 10/27

 Jackson, “Epiphenomenal Qualia”
Lewis, “What Experience Teaches”
Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapter 8
inverted spectrum Tue 11/1 Nida-Rümelin, “Pseudonormal Vision: An Actual Case of Qualia Inversion”
conceivability arguments Tue 11/1
Thu 11/3 		Kripke, Naming and Necessity excerpts
Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapter 4 and final section of Chapter 6 (“Essentialism about psychological states”)
Third writing assignment due Monday 11/7 at noon by email.
  Tue 11/8
 Hill, “Imaginability, Conceivability, Possibility and the Mind-Body Problem”
optional: Maxwell, “Rigid designators and Mind-Brain Identity”
  Thu 11/10

Kung, “Imaginability as a Guide to Possibility ” (web)
optional: Van Inwagen, “Modal epistemology” (web)
Anti-Realism about the Mind
guest lecture by Jay Atlas Tue 11/15 selections from Sweet Dreams
 Atlas, “Qualia, Memory, Attention, and Language”

instrumentalism

 Thu 11/17

Dennett, “True Believers,”
Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapter 9

Fourth writing assignment due Friday 11/18 at 5 p.m. by email.
eliminativism Tue 11/22

Churchland, “Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes”
Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapter 13
Content
externalism

Tue 11/29

Putnam, “The Meaning of ‘Meaning’ ”
Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapter 12
Recommended: Burge, “Individualism and the Mental”
theories of content Thu 12/1 Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapters 10 & 11
Dretske, “A Recipe for Thought”
Fodor, “Propositional Attitudes” (first section, 542–47; rest of paper is optional)
Final paper due Friday 12/2 at 5 p.m. in the Philosophy Department.
Mental Causation
the problem Tue 12/6 Kim, “The Many Problems of Mental Causation”
Kim, “Multiple Realization and the Metaphysics of Reduction”
Review Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson, Chapter 1
Final Exam Thu 12/15 2 p.m. (per College schedule)