Welcome
Frans Hals - René Descartes
Philosophy of Mind deals with one of the oldest topics in philosophy, though its packaging in the "Philosophy of..." format is more recent. Its age means that there are a variety of venerable approaches to the topic (Dualism and Idealism are two good examples). The post WWII surge in sciences such as psychology, molecular biology, computer science, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, neuroscience and ethology mean that the subject is currently buzzing with new ideas, that deep consensus is hard to find, and that it is impossible in a six lecture course to give more than a taste of what is out there.
Accordingly, this course focusses on a single issue (namely, the classic mind body problem) and attempts to give a panoramic overview of modern discussion on this topic. In essence, the course tells a simple story: the story of a flight from dualism (in its most extreme form, the view that mind and body are separate substances) to modern materialist theories (notably functionalism) followed by a partial (and controversial) retreat from functionalist ideas to novel forms of dualism.
A subtheme of the course is the role of metaphysics. That Philosophy of Mind raises metaphysical issues is in one way obvious: the Mind/Body problem can be considered a paradigm metaphysical issue. But metaphysics shows up in others ways too, and one interesting (and perhaps unexpected) facet of much contemporary debate is the heavy use made of modal metaphysics, and in particular, the use of possible worlds.
Accordingly, this course focusses on a single issue (namely, the classic mind body problem) and attempts to give a panoramic overview of modern discussion on this topic. In essence, the course tells a simple story: the story of a flight from dualism (in its most extreme form, the view that mind and body are separate substances) to modern materialist theories (notably functionalism) followed by a partial (and controversial) retreat from functionalist ideas to novel forms of dualism.
A subtheme of the course is the role of metaphysics. That Philosophy of Mind raises metaphysical issues is in one way obvious: the Mind/Body problem can be considered a paradigm metaphysical issue. But metaphysics shows up in others ways too, and one interesting (and perhaps unexpected) facet of much contemporary debate is the heavy use made of modal metaphysics, and in particular, the use of possible worlds.
Lecture plan:
Textbooks:
In an introductory course like this, textbooks have an important role to play: they enable enable a wider terrain to be covered fast, and introduce novel terminology in a gentler way than is possible in research papers and (something particularly important in Philosophy of Mind) help the reader become attuned to a wide range of interdisciplinary concerns. I'd particularly like to draw your attention to the following ones. Incidentally, two of the authors (Paul Churchland and Frank Jackson) are leading philosophers of mind.
Matter and Consciousness,Paul M. Churchland
The MIT Press; Revised edition, 1988 Chapter Two of this book gives a clear overview of some of the major positions and themes discussed in this course: it's a good first port of call for discussions of dualism, philosophical behaviorism, Identity theory, functionalism and eliminative materialism. But there is a lot of other useful material in this book. In particular, for more on why so many contemporary philosophers are interested in topics such as neuroscience and artificial intelligence, this is a good place to start. |
Philosophy of Mind and Cognition,David Braddon-Mitchell and Frank Jackson
Blackwell Publishing, 1996 This book is not as broad in its scope as Churchland's, but it digs a lot deeper philosophically. In particular, it gives a detailed account of (many varieties of) functionalism and stresses the affinities between functionalism and the Identity Theory. It also contains simple introductions to such topics as supervenience and possible world semantics. The title of my first lecture was taken from this book. |
Body and Mind,Keith Campbell
University of Notre Dame Press, University of Notre Dame Press; Second edition 1984 This book is now very old (the first edition appeared in 1970) and is in certain respects is very out of date (functionalism, probably the dominant contemporary theory of mind, only appears as a brief chapter in the second edition). But this weakness is also the book's strength: as a first discussion of some classic issues (notably the strengths and weaknesses of dualism) this book still takes some beating. And its overall thrust eerily anticipates some later developments. Short, clearly written, and worth looking at. |
Conversations on Consciousness,Susan Blackmore
Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (January 1, 2006) This is not a textbook, and much of it is not philosophy either, but it is a useful resource if you are new to the area. Here, Susan Blackmore interviews a wide range of researchers interested in what consciousness is. Some major philosophers are here (Ned Block, Patricia and Paul Churchland, David Chalmers, Daniel Dennett, John Searle), but so are the Nobel prizewinning biologist Francis Crick, the neuroscientist Susan Greenfield, and many others from many fields A good place to get an (often inspiring) overview contemporary views. |
The Phenomenological Mind,Shaun Gallagher and Dan Zahavi
Routledge; 2 edition (April 5, 2012) This book is suggested more as a nod (and an apology) to a tradition in the Philosophy of Mind that is only hinted at in this course, namely the tradition based on the work of phenomenologists such as Husserl. This textbook draws on both modern cognitive science and writings in this tradition to present and important alternative to the tradition discussed in this course. |
Anthologies
There are some excellent collections of original papers addressing various problems
in Philosophy of mind, typically with good introductions and remarks on the individual papers.
You might like to look at the following.
in Philosophy of mind, typically with good introductions and remarks on the individual papers.
You might like to look at the following.
William Lycan, Mind and Cognition: a Reader
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Ned Block, Readings in the Philosophy of Psychology
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David Rosenthal, The Nature of Mind
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Hofstadter and Dennett, The Mind's I
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