Philosophy of Mind

PHILOSOPHY OF MIND
FALL 2020

SESSIONS FOR THE MODULE

Lectures are pre-recorded
and released weekly; links
available here and on Blackboard

Live sessions take place online
weekly, starting on Monday
October 5th at 3pm

Seminars take place fortnightly on
campus (barring a full lockdown)
starting the week of October 5th-9th
in the following locations:

Group S/01: 2pm Thursdays in 65/2117
Group S/02: 4pm on Thursdays in 65/1097
Group S/03: 9am on Thursdays in 34/1020

Group collaboration sessions take place
fortnightly online starting the week of
October 12th-16th on Blackboard
on Thursdays 2-4pm.

SCHEDULE OF READINGS FOR
LECTURES AND SEMINARS
AND LINKS TO LECTURE VIDEOS

It will be really helpful for you to do the required readings for lectures and seminars.
Below I will give you access to most required readings and list some recommended readings.

I strongly recommend buying Amy Kind's 2020 textbook
Philosophy of Mind: The Basics (Routledge), which we
will be using throughout the first part of the module.

Links to each of the lecture videos for the week will be posted, at latest, by Monday 9am.

(This section of the page is updated on a weekly basis, and sometimes more often.)

Part 1. The Mind-Body Problem

Week 2: Introduction

Lecture Video 1 (better background); Lecture Video 1 (non-sniffly)
Lecture Video 2
Lecture Video 3
Notes
Prezi Slides
Live session handout

Main lecture-relevant reading:
Required: Kind 2020: pp.1-14, 18-21;
LINK to chapter 1 of Kind's book

Strongly Recommended: Nagel, Thomas. ‘What It Like to Be a Bat?’ LINK

Excerpts to discuss in seminar:
Kind’s summary of Nagel’s argument. LINK

Further reading, listening, and viewing:
Akins, Kathleen. ‘A Bat without Qualities’
Blackmore, Susan. Consciousness: A Very Brief Introduction, chapter 1.
Brogaard, Berit. ‘The Status of Consciousness in Nature’
Kim, Jaegwon. Philosophy of Mind, Introduction.
Chalmers, David. Talks for TED (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhRhtFFhNzQ&t=139s) and Google (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsYUWtLQBS0&t=36s). Interview for Serious Science (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5DfnIjZPGw).
Interview by Keith Frankish (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeDhaightUU).
Fodor, Jerry. Interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs82SsczIpE).
Philosophy Bites interview with Ned Block about consciousness.

Weeks 3 and 4: Dualism, the case for

Notes for Weeks 3 and 4
Notes for Weeks 3 and 4
(For week 4, read from the section
'Metaphysical Arguments for Dualism')

Week 3 Lectures and Slides
Lecture Video 1
Lecture Video 2
Lecture Video 3.1
Lecture Video 3.2
Prezi Slides for Week 3
Live Session Handout

Week 4 Lectures and Slides
Lecture Video 1
Lecture Video 2
Lecture Video 3
Prezi Slides for Week 4
Live Session Handout

Main lecture-relevant readings:
Required: Kind 2020: pp.22-34, 39-44, 63-73
LINK to Chapter 2 of Kind's book
LINK to Chapter 3 of Kind's book

Recommended: Excerpts from classical Indian philosophers on
materialism and dualism (texts from as early as 6th
century BCE, going up to the 15th century CE). LINK

For week 3 group discussion: excerpts on knowledge and conceivability arguments
For your group discussion, choose one of the following short readings:

Gertler’s summary of the Knowledge Argument LINK
Kind’s summary of the Zombie Argument from Just the Arguments LINK

Agenda: See if you can identify some weak spots in the arguments or,
alternatively, explain why you find them compelling.
I will check in to see how things are going in your groups.

(Note: you’re free to discuss both excerpts, but I don’t expect you to do that.
The hope is that making group decisions here will help you
establish rapport for group presentations.)

For week 4 seminar:
Excerpt from Kripke LINK

Here is the fuller passage from which my extract is drawn:
https://rintintin.colorado.edu/~vancecd/phil375/Kripke3.pdf

Further reading, listening, and viewing:
Marmura, Michael. ‘Avicenna’s ‘Flying Man’ in Context’
Kaukua, Jari. ‘Avicenna on the Phenomenon of Self-Awareness’ and ‘Self-Awareness as Existence: Avicenna on the Individuality of an Incorporeal Substance’
Chadha, Monima. ‘The Self in Early Nyāya.’
Montero, Barbara. ‘The Zombie Argument for Dualism’
Balog, Katalin. ‘Conceivability, Possibility, and the Mind-Body Problem.’
Jackson, Frank. ‘Epiphenomenal Qualia.’
Nida-Rümelin, Martine and O’Conaill, Donnchadh. ‘Qualia: The Knowledge Argument’ (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qualia-knowledge/)
Lowe, E. J. ‘Why I Am Not My Body’
Parfit, Derek. ‘We Are Not Human Beings’
History of Philosophy without Gaps podcast on Avicenna’s ‘Flying Man’ thought experiment LINK
The Philosophy Bites interview on the ‘Flying Man’ thought experiment LINK
The Philosophy Bites interview with Frank Jackson on the knowledge argument LINK
History of Philosophy without Gaps interview with Monima Chadha on classical Indian philosophy of mind (https://historyofphilosophy.net/mind-chadha)
History of Philosophy without Gaps on Nyaya on the mind (https://historyofphilosophy.net/nyaya-mind)

Week 5: Dualism, the case against

Notes, lectures, slides
Lecture Video 1
Lecture Video 2
Lecture Video 3
Prezi Slides
Notes
Live Session Handout

Main lecture-relevant reading
Required: Kind 2020: pp.34-39, 44-46.
Link to Chapter 2 of Kind's book again. LINK

Strongly recommended: Bennett 2007: 316-329. LINK

Excerpt to discuss in groups
Jen McWeeney’s ‘Princess Elisabeth and the Mind-Body Problem’,
summarizing Elisabeth’s objections to Descartes LINK

OR

Section 5 of Karen Bennett's 'Mental Causation' LINK

Agenda: See if you can identify some weak spots in the arguments or,
alternatively, explain why you find them compelling.
I will check in to see how things are going in your groups.

Further reading, listening, and viewing:
Bennett, Karen. ‘Why I Am Not a Dualist'
Blackmore, Susan. Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction, chapter 4
Kim, Jaegwon. Selections from Mind in a Physical World. LINK
Tollefsen, Deborah. ‘Princess Elisabeth and the Problem of Mind-Body Interaction'

Joe Cruz TED talk ‘On Why There Is No Mind/Body Problem (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luJqHjqOBsM)
Nice YouTube explanation of the Exclusion Problem (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TqeWNf2D-M)

Week 6: Alternatives to dualism: materialism and physicalism

Notes, lectures, slides
Lecture Video 1
Lecture Video 2.1
Lecture Video 2.2 (Bonus)
Lecture Video 2.3
Notes
Slides
Seminar Extract
Live Session Handout

Main lecture-relevant readings/listenings
Required: Kind 2020: pp.49-62. Here is Chapter 3 again LINK

Excerpts to discuss in seminar:
Excerpts from Margaret Cavendish. LINK

Further reading, listening, and viewing:
Stojlar, Daniel. ‘Physicalism’ (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/physicalism/)
Smart, J. J. C. ‘Sensations and Brain Processes’
Place, U. T. ‘Materialism as a Scientific Hypothesis’
Feigl, H. 'The 'Mental' and the 'Physical''
Horowitz, A. ‘Putnam’s Multiple Realization Argument against Type Physicalism’
Excerpts from Margaret Cavendish.
Montero, B. ‘The Body Problem.’
Kwame, S. ‘Quasi-Materialism.’
See again the excerpts from classical Indian philosophers on materialism and dualism
History of Philosophy without Gaps on Carvaka Materialism
Philosophy Bites interview on Physicalism with David Papineau
Philosophy Bites interview on Eliminative Materialism with Patricia Churchland
Philosophy Bites interview on ‘The Illusion of Qualia’ with Keith Frankish

Week 8 (after consultation week): Alternatives to dualism: functionalism

Notes, lectures, slides
Lecture Video 1
Lecture Video 2
Lecture Video 3
Lecture Video 4
Notes
Slides
Review Sheet (Abridged Notes)

Main lecture-relevant reading
Kind Chapter 4 LINK
Kind Chapter 5 (optional) LINK

Further reading, listening, and viewing
Baker, Lynne. ‘Functionalism.’
Baker, Lynne. ‘A Farewell to Functionalism’
Block, Ned. ‘Troubles with Functionalism’
Block, Ned. ‘What Is Functionalism?’
Egan, Frances. ‘Computation and Content’
Egan, Frances. ‘Function-Theoretic Explanation and the Search for Neural Mechanisms’
Levin, Janet. ‘Functionalism.’
Pylyshyn, Zenon. ‘Computation and Cognition: Issues in the Foundations of Cognitive Science.’
Philosophy Bites interview on the Chinese Room thought experiment with Dan Dennett.

Part 2: Thought, Perception, and Action

Week 9: Explaining thought

Lectures, slides
Video 1.1 (Introduction and Simple Views)
Video 1.2 (Fodor's 1980s View)
Video 2 (Millikan)
Video 3 (Dretske)
Slides

Main lecture-relevant reading
My notes

Excerpt to discuss in seminar
Sections 4 and 5 from Dretske’s ‘A Recipe for Thought’ LINK

Especially recommended further reading
Antony, Louise. ‘Thinking’ LINK
Millikan, Ruth. 'Biosemantics' LINK
Millikan, Ruth. 'Naturalizing Intentionality' LINK

Further reading, listening, viewing
Adams, F. and Aizawa, K. ‘Causal Theories of Content’
Egan, Frances. ‘Representationalism’
Fodor, Jerry. ‘Information and Representation’
Fodor, Jerry. ‘Meaning and the World Order’
Neander, Karen. Introduction to A Mark of the Mental.
Neander, Karen. ‘Teleological Theories of Mental Content: Can Darwin Solve the Problem of Intentionality’
Neander, Karen. SEP article on teleological theories of mental content.
Von Eckhart, Barbara. ‘The Representational Theory of Mind’
Relevant clip from a Ruth Millikan interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVvUmZ2etxQ)

Unit 3 (Week 10): Explaining perception

Main lecture-relevant reading
Introduction to Noe and Thompson (eds.) Vision and Mind

Excerpts to discuss in groups

Either:

Descartes on blindness and the nature of perception.

Or:

Excerpts from Martin Milligan (a blind philosopher) in On Blindness.

Further reading, listening, viewing
Campbell, John and Cassam, Quassim. Berkeley’s Problem. Selections.
Logue, Heather. ‘Why Naïve Realism?’
Noe, Alva. Selections from Perception in Action.
Noe, Alva and O’Regan, J. K. ‘On the Brain-Basis of Visual Consciousness: A Sensorimotor Account’
Schellenberg, Susanna. ‘Perceptual Consciousness a Mental Activity’
Short Alva Noe video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TrbOoirkhM)
Another Alva Noe video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deIrE6RofEs)

Unit 4 (Week 11): Agency and embodiment

Main lecture-relevant reading
Drayson, Zoe. Overview of embodied cognition literature on pp.1-20 of
‘Embodied Cognitive Science and its Implications for Psychopathology’.

Excerpts to discuss
Short selection from Alva Noe’s Out of Our Heads.
Section 4.4 of Noe and O’Regan’s ‘On the Brain-Basis
of Visual Consciousness: A Sensorimotor Account’

Further reading, listening, viewing
Noe, Alva. Longer selections from Out of Our Heads.
Wilson, Robert A. Selections from Boundaries of the Mind.
Gallagher, Shaun. How the Body Shapes the Mind.
Interview with Shaun Gallagher (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7ghXdujfLE)
Noe, Alva, long talk on this book (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af3Vq-C1ck8)
Noe, Alva, short talk on this book (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhk9MkTkSPA)
Interview with Alva Noe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz-XMhcEp1E)

Unit 0.2 (Week 12): Conclusion: tying everything together, from the end to the beginning

No new reading beyond notes.