Graduate Program (& Advanced Certificate) Status
One way to start to study the philosophy of mind is to draw up a map of the mind: among the states, events, properties of a person, which are those that we regard as mental? (Note that by ‘mental’ I don’t mean something opposed to the physical; I don’t make any assumptions about the issue of physicalism. The mental is opposed simply to the non-mental, or the merely physical.) The purpose of this course is to look into some theories of different mental features: perception, sensation, imagination, memory, dreams, aliefs, self-deception and character traits
Although our interest in these questions will be largely philosophical, we will use findings from empirical science to inform our philosophical inquiry.
Students will become familiar with some of the contemporary debates on the nature of mental states. They will be able to engage with, and attempt to contribute to, contemporary research in the philosophy of mind.
Requirements for passing the course:
For Audit:
- Regular attendance, participation in class discussion
- Comments in Perusall, on at least 8 out of the 11 readings
For Grade:
- Regular attendance, participation in class discussion
- Comments in Perusall, on at least 8 out of the 11 readings (ungraded).
- There will be one or more questions for each reading/topic, usually posted a couple of weeks before the class. Students will be asked to sign up for the topics and prepare a 500-700 word written answer to one of the questions, due before the class. If time allows, a summary of the answers (max 5 mins) will be presented in the class.
- I will post a series of questions at the end of the term, and MA students will be asked to write a max 1300-1500 word written answer to one of the questions. PhD students can develop their own paper of up to 2000 words, after consultation with me on the topic.
Assessment:
- 30% for the shorter paper
- 70% for the longer paper
