Philosophy of Mind

Dr. Matt McCormick

Phil. 153. Section 1, Spring 2007

Tuesday, Thursday, 10:30-11:45, LSN 1100

Office Hours: TTh 12:00-1:30 and by appointment

Office: Mendocino 3020 Office phone: 278-7372

email: mccormick@csus.edu Webpage: www.csus.edu/indiv/m/mccormickm

Writing Guidelines: http://www.csus.edu/phil/req/writing.htm

Philosophy Department Office: Mendocino 3032, 278-6424

Catalog Description: PHIL153. Philosophy of Mind. Rival theories of the nature of the mind and mental activity, including dualism, materialism, functionalism. Difficulties in achieving a theoretical understanding of familiar psychological concepts such as belief, sensation, emotion, intention. Prerequisite: 3 units in philosophy or instructor permission. 3 units.

Required Text: Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings, ed. David J. Chalmers. Oxford University Press, New York, 2002. ISBN:0-19-514581-X

The Course: The project of expanding human knowledge and understanding has steadily expanded to encompass countless aspects of our experience, but one surprising and persistent mystery remains: the nature of consciousness. While neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy have provided us with some knowledge about it, there are still important debates about several questions: How is a mind constructed? What is it made of? What sorts of things can have minds? Can computers or machines think? Are there even such things as minds? This course is about philosophical attempts to understand the mind and answer these questions. We will consider several rival theories and the concepts, objections, and concerns that have dominated recent philosophical discussions about the mind.

Requirements: Papers: In this course you will write 3 papers (4+ pages).

Exams: There will also be a final exam that will be made up of short answer questions and several essay questions covering the content of the course. Each test will cover half of the course material.

Grading Guidelines: A detailed explanation of the standards employed in this course to grade assignments and the requirements for different grades can be found at: http://www.csus.edu/phil/req/grading.htm

Attendance: Class attendance is mandatory. Anyone with 5 or more unexcused absences will receive a 0 for class attendance and participation. Everyone is expected to come to class prepared, having read the assigned materials, and ready to participate in the class discussions. Everyone who meets these requirements will receive a full 10% for their class participation grade. Failure to meet these requirements will result in a proportional reduction of that grade.

If there are emergencies that force you to miss class, they may be excused in some rare cases. You must notify me that you will be missing class before it occurs. And I will require evidence in order to excuse the absence(s).

Being Tardy: I take roll at the beginning of class; students who are late may be counted absent and will miss assignments, important information, and as a result, do poorly in the course. Three tardies count as an absence. Students who leave at the break will receive half an absence.

Cheating: No cheating of any sort will be tolerated in this course. All sources in papers must be cited and given appropriate credit. The author of any information from the Internet must be given credit; using such information without indicating the source is stealing someone else's hard work and is immoral. Students are allowed to discuss lectures and even assignments with each other, but they must do their own work. Be cautious of sharing your notes and ideas with someone who did not attend class and did not take notes; that person has much more to gain than you do.

Here is the university policy on academic honesty:

The attempt by a student to cheat on an exam or other academic assignment or to engage in plagiarism is a violation of a fundamental principle of academic honesty and integrity and will not be tolerated in the University. Formal procedures exist for dealing with these cases and penalties will be imposed on students who are found guilty of academic dishonesty. In the event of expulsion, suspension or probation, a notation is made on the student’s transcript. Suspension and probation notations remain on the transcript for the life of the suspension/probation. For information, contact the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs.

All students will be responsible for reading and following the university honesty, plagiarism, and cheating policies. They are posted on the web at: http://www.csus.edu/admbus/umanual/UMA00150.htm

Students with Disabilities: If you have a documented disability and require accommodation or assistance with assignments, tests, attendance, note taking, etc., please see the instructor early in the semester so that appropriate arrangements can be made to ensure your full participation in class. Also, you are encouraged to contact the Services for Students with Disabilities (Lassen Hall) for additional information regarding services that might be available to you.

Course Grade: Your course grade will be based upon your papers (10% each), the exams (20% each), and your attendance and class participation (10%). Class attendance is mandatory.

Your final grade will be calculated as follows:

Short papers 3 @ 20% of total grade

Final exam 30% of total grade

Attend. and Participation 10% of total grade

Late Assignments: Each student may take one extension on a due paper until the next class period. This is the only extension you will have, so use it wisely. You do not need to inform me when you choose to take your extension.

All other late assignments will be penalized 10% (one letter grade) a day.

Missed Assignments: Be forewarned: A missed assignment will be entered as a 0 in the grade spreadsheet, and that has a substantial negative impact on your course grade. Even an F (55 points) has a less damaging effect on your grade.

There will be no extra credit or make up assignments for any missed work.

To calculate your grade during the semester:

1. On papers with letter grades, figure 95 points out of a hundred for an A, 92 for an A-, 88 for a B+, 85 for a B, 82 for a B-, and so on. Multiply each paper score by the decimal of the percentage it is worth. So if you got an A- on a short paper, that would be 92 x .10.

2. Do this for every assignment and test that has been graded.

3. Then estimate the scores you will make or you would like to make for the remaining assignments that have not been graded. Calculate their contribution to the total grade like you did for the completed assignments.

4. Estimate your attendance and participation score. Students who attend every class, come prepared, ask questions, and contribute to the discussions or come to office hours earn an A or 10 out of 10. Students who have poor attendance (see requirements below), who do not come to class prepared, and who do not ask question or contribute to the class discussions or come to office hours earn a D, 6 out of 10, or worse.

5. Add the results of the calculations in 1, 2, 3, and 4. This will give you your total score out of 100 for the course. The letter grade is based on this score and is translated with the letter grade scheme in 1.

Example: Susan got a B-, B, B+, A- on her first 4 papers, and an 82 on her midterm. She thinks she will do about that well on the fourth paper and the final exam which haven’t been completed yet. And she thinks her class attendance and participation are pretty good.

Course schedule: Here is an outline of the authors and topics that we will be discussing, and the page numbers of the readings. The schedule is subject to change to fit class lectures.

All readings are from the Chalmers volume, unless otherwise specified.

WebCT: Some of Prof. McCormick's lecture notes and some readings will be posted on WebCT: https://online.csus.edu/webct/entryPageIns.dowebct

Week 1(Jan. 29-Feb. 2): Introduction: Thinking Meat!?!?

Reading:

Terry Bisson-- http://www.terrybisson.com/meat.html

Dualism:

Reading:

Descartes. Meditations on First Philosophy II and VI pages 10-20.

Passions of the Soul pages 21-24.

McCormick: Against the Immortality of the Soul

Week 2 (Feb. 5-9): Dualism continued

Behaviorism:

Readings:

Gilbert Ryle, Descartes Myth, pages 32-38.

Rudolf Carnap, Psychology in Physical Language, pages 39-44.

Hilary Putnam, Brains and Behavior, 45-54.

Week 3 (Feb. 12-16): Identity Theory:

Readings:

U.T. Place, Is Consciousness a Brain Process? pages 55-60.

J.J.C. Smart: Identity theory of mind (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Week 4 (Feb. 19-23): Functionalism:

Readings:

Functionalism (Janet Levin- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Hilary Putnam, The Nature of Mental States, pages 102-109.

Week 5 (Feb. 26-March 2) : Functionalism Continued

Readings:

Ned Block, Troubles with Functionalism, 130-162

Nida-Rumelin, Martine, Pseudonormal Vision: An Actual Case of Qualia Inversion? pages 99-105.

Week 6 (March 5-9): Consciousness

Readings:

Consciousness (Robert Van Gulick- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Ned Block, Concepts of Consciousness, pages 206-218.

Thomas Nagel, What is it Like to be a Bat? pages 219-225.

Week 7 (March 12-16): ZOMBIES! eeek!

Readings:

Daniel Dennett, Quining Qualia, pages 226-246.

http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/quinqual.htm

David Chalmers, Consciousness and Its Place in Nature, pages 247-272.

http://consc.net/papers/nature.html

Koch and Crick, On the Zombie Within: http://www.klab.caltech.edu/refweb/paper/397.pdf

Week 8 (March 19-23): Zombies and Qualia continued

Readings: same as week 7

Second Paper Assignment: Chalmers and Dennett on Explaining Consciousness

Spring Break: March 26-April 1

Week 9 April 2-6): The Knowledge Argument

Readings:

Frank Jackson, Epiphenomenal Qualia, 273-280

H.G. Wells, The Country of the Blind, http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/3/

Week 10 (April 9-13): The Knowledge Argument continued.

Readings:

David Lewis, What Experience Teaches, 281-294

Paul Churchland, The Rediscovery of Light, pages 362-370

http://www.jstor.org/pss/2940998

Eliminative Materialism:

Eliminative materialism (William Ramsey- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Week 11 (April 16-20): Minds and Machines

Readings:

Turing test (Graham Oppy and David Dowe)

Chinese room argument

Week 12 (April 23-27): Externalism

Readings:

Hilary Putnam, The Meaning of 'Meaning' pages 581-596.

Tyler Burge, Individualism and the Mental, pages 286-299

Week 13 (April 30- May 4): Neuroscientific Models of Consciousness

Readings:

David Chalmers, What is a Neural Correlate of Consciousness? http://consc.net/papers/ncc2.html

Koch and Crick, A framework for consciousness. Nature Neuroscience (2003) 6, 119-126 http://www.klab.caltech.edu/refweb/paper/438.pdf

Daniel Dennett, The Global Workspace Model, http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/cognition.fin.htm

Week 14 (May 7- 11): Neuroscientific Models concluded.

Week 15 (May 14-18): Summation and Final Review

Final Exam: Thursday, May 24, 10:15-12:15

Final Exam Questions

Itching and Theories of Perception:

The Itch: Its mysterious power may be a clue to a new theory about brains and bodies. Atul Gawande

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/30/080630fa_fact_gawande?printable=true

Some Links:

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy- Philosophy of Mind entries (compiled and edited by David Chalmers)

anomalous monism (Steven Yalowitz)
belief (Eric Schwitzgebel)
Chinese room argument (David Cole)
concepts (Eric Margolis and Stephen Laurence)
consciousness (Robert Van Gulick)
- animal (Colin Allen)
- higher-order theories (Peter Carruthers)
- and intentionality (Charles Siewert)
- representational theories (William Lycan)
- unity of (Andrew Brook)
dualism (Howard Robinson)
emotion (Ronald de Sousa)
eliminative materialism (William Ramsey)
epiphenomenalism (William Robinson)
functionalism (Janet Levin)
identity theory of mind (J. J. C. Smart)
intentionality (Pierre Jacob)
language of thought hypothesis (Murat Aydede)
memory (John Sutton)
mental causation (David Robb and John Heil)
mental content
- causal theories of (Fred Adams)
- externalism about (Joe Lau)
- narrow (Curtis Brown)
- nonconceptual (José Bermúdez)
- teleological theories of (Karen Neander)
mental imagery (Nigel Thomas)
multiple realizability (John Bickle)
neutral monism (Leopold Stubenberg)
other minds (Alec Hyslop)
pain (Murat Aydede)
panpsychism (William Seager)
perception
- the contents of (Susanna Siegel)
- the disjunctive theory of (Scott Sturgeon)
- the problem of (Tim Crane)
physicalism (Daniel Stoljar)
pleasure (Leonard D. Katz)
qualia (Michael Tye)
- inverted (Alex Byrne)
- knowledge argument (Martine Nida-Rümelin)
self-consciousness (Uriah Kriegel)
- phenomenological approaches to (Shaun Gallagher and Dan Zahavi)
self-knowledge (Brie Gertler)
supervenience (Karen Bennett & Brian McLaughlin)
zombies (Robert Kirk)