Announcements
  • First day of class: Sept 25
Office hours
  • GG Office hours: TBA
  • TA Office hours (and TA contact information) are on CCLE.

Syllabus

The syllabus is subject to revision. Please check back every week.

Unit 1: The Mind in Nature

0 Soul, Mind, and Brain
Thursday Sept. 25
Read: ​Syllabus (this page) and Course Policies.
Recommended: ​The Pink Guide to Philosophy.
1.1 Mind vs Body
Tuesday Sept. 30
Read: "Floating man", Ibn Sina (1027)
Read:  "On the distinction of mind and body" ,  Descartes (1641)
Reading Guide
The short passage from Ibn Sina poses the question: if you came into existence without any perception or contact with the outside world, or without your body, what could you know?   His answer, roughly, is that you could still know that you had a "self" or "soul" (for our purposes, a "mind").  From this he concludes that the soul must be distinct from the body.  Even though the text is old, the argument Ibn Sina makes here still has force today.  Read it very carefully, and understand the argument.

The longer reading from Descartes is one of the most famous passages in Western Philosophy.  This text is very difficult.  Even though it is only 6 pages, leave several hours to read this, and read it completely at least twice.  You'll want to make sure you understand what Descartes is saying at every stage.

Descartes sets himself the task of trying to doubt everything that he thinks he knows.  The only beliefs left will be the absolutely certain truths.   His first move is to imagine that his entire waking life is actually an illusion creating by a deceiving demon (think of the Truman Show or the Matrix).   After doubting the existence of the external world, he turns his attention to his own mind.   Can you doubt the existence of your own mind?    After pondering this question he points out that at least he can be certain of this: the mind and the body are not the same thing.  He offers several different arguments for this conclusion, and we'll discuss these in class.  (Note: Descartes uses the terms "soul” and "mind” pretty much interchangeably.)

As you read, try to answer the following questions:
  • the original argument: Ibn Sina argues from a certain "thought experiment" to the conclusion that the soul is not the body.   What is his argument?
  • soul/mind:  what does Descartes think the essence of the soul is?  What properties distinguish it from the body?
  • body: what does Descartes think the essence of the body is?  What properties distinguish it from the soul?
  • "what am I?”:  Descartes asks this question repeatedly.  What answers does he consider?  What does he conclude? Would Ibn Sina agree?
  • soul ≠ body:  Descartes thinks the mind/soul is not the body.  But why?  He has at least three arguments-- one having to do with doubt, one having to do with the essence of soul vs body, and one having to do with divisibility.  What are these arguments?  Which is closest to Ibn Sina's?
1.2 Interactionist Dualism
Thursday Oct. 2
Required: First Survey on Philosophical Views
Read: "The Passions of the Soul" Descartes (1649) ---  sections 1-6, 16-20, 23-25, 27-37, 41 (as highlighted)
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2.1 Mental Causation
Tuesday Oct. 7
Read: ​"Princess Elisabeth against Descartes", Kim (2011) --- pages 46-50.
Read: Correspondence between Princess Elisabeth and Descartes  (1643) --- pages 1-5.
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2.2 Free Will
Thursday Oct. 9
Read: "Free will and determinism",  Sider (2005)
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3.1 Causal Closure of Physics
Tuesday Oct. 14
Read: "Arguments Against Dualism", Papineau and Selina (2000) — pages 64-83.
Read:  "An Argument from Mental Causation", Kim (2011)— pages 110-114.
Optional: "Difficulties for the Dualist", Smith and Jones (1986)— pages 57-61.
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3.2 IN-CLASS ESSAY EXAM #1: Mind-Body Interaction
Thursday Oct. 16

Unit 2: The Mechanical Mind

4.1 Mind-Brain Connections
Tuesday Oct. 21
Read: "Mind & Brain: A Graphic Guide", Gellatly and Zarate (2018) — pages 21-46.
Listen: Interview with Patricia Churchland
Watch: "Brain Story: All in the Mind", BBC Documentary (2000):
  • Warning! This documentary includes some intense imagery, including footage of live brain surgery, patients with amputated limbs, and people with severe brain damage.   If you feel you don't want to watch the video, please get in touch with me and I'll find you an alternative assignment.
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4.2 The Cognitive Mind
Thursday Oct. 23
Read: "Standard Equipment" (from How the Mind Works), Pinker (1997) -- pages 3-12, 18-31 (as marked) 
Read: "Desert Ants Are Better Than Most High School Students at Trigonometry", Goldman (2012)
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5.1 The Mind as Machine
​Tuesday Oct. 28
Read: "Meat Machines" Clark (2001) --- pages 1-16  [including text boxes]
Read: "Computational Theory of Mind" Ravenscroft (2005) --- pages 81-89
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5.2 AI and the Problem of Meaning
Thursday Oct. 30
Read:  "Can computers think?" Searle (1983)
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6.1 The Emergent Mind (Systems Reply)
Tuesday Nov. 5
Read: Compiled Readings on Systems Reply
  • "The Cognitive Approach" Braisby and Gellatly (2012)
  • "Marr's Levels of Explanation and Cognitive Psychology" Quinland and Dyson (2008)
  • "Responding to the Chinese Room Argument" Bermudez (2014)
See also: Openheim and Putnam, "The Unity of Science"
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6.2 The Embodied Mind (Robot Reply)
Thursday Nov. 7
Read: "Searle and the Robot Reply", Anderson (2006)
Read: "​Information-theoretic semantics", Dretske (2009) ---- read through 22.2 (skip 22.3)
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7.1 Unconscious Cognition
Tuesday Nov. 12
Read: "Uncanny Sight in the Blind", de Gelder (2010)
Read: "Into the Blindspot", Banaji and Greenwald (2013)-- up to page 22
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Unit 3: Consciousness

7.2 What is Consciousness?
Thursday Nov. 14
Read: "Introducing Consciousness", Papineau and Selina (2001) -- pages 3-22
Read: "Facing up to the problem of consciousness", Chalmers (2010) -- Sections 1-3
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Writing Assignment 3: The Problem of Meaning
Due: Sunday Nov. 17, 11:59 PM

Link here for TURNITIN SUBMISSIONS
 8.1 The Explanatory Gap
Tuesday Nov. 19

NO QUIZ TUESDAY
Read: "What is it like to be a bat?", Nagel (1974) --- skip the last section, as marked
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8.2 The Knowledge Argument
Thursday Nov. 21
Read: "Epiphenomenal qualia", Jackson (1982) -- one page excerpt.
Read: "The Knowledge Argument" and "Subjectivity", Fesser (2005)
Optional: "Knowledge Argument", Alter (2014)
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9.1 Naturalistic Dualism
Tuesday Nov. 26
Read:  "Naturalistic Dualism", Chalmers (2010) 
Read: "Epiphenomenalism", Revonsuo (2010)​
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9.2 NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
Thursday Nov. 28
10.1 Science and Subjectivity
Thursday Dec. 3
Read: "Type-A Materialism" and "Type-B Materialism", Chalmers (2003) -- focus on Type-B
Read: "Critique of the Knowledge Argument", Horgan (1984) (from "Jackson... ") 
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10.2 The Self
Thursday Dec. 5
Optional: "Of personal identity", Hume (1739)

Required: Quiz [based on Tuesdays lecture only]
Required: Survey on Mind-Body Relations
Required: Phil 7 Online Evaluation
Required: UCLA course evaluation for lecture and section​
        [+1% on final grade; access through MyUCLA]
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Writing Assignment 4: The Problem of Consciousness
Due: Thursday Dec. 12, 11:59 PM
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