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Philosphy 329-Syllabus Philosphy 329: Minds, Machines and Persons Instructor: Joshua Armstrong Office: Room #104, 1 Seminary Ave. College Ave email: [email protected] Monday/Thursday, 9:50-11:10. Murray Hall, Room 111, College Ave. Office Hours: Mondays 11:30—1:30, and by appointment, in my office. 2 Course Synopsis: This course is a philosophical introduction to the nature of minds and machines, and the issues these topics raise for the nature of personal identity. In seeking to understand the nature of the mind, thinkers have often used metaphors drawn from the technology around them. Leibniz once described the mind as a mill. Freud once compared the mind to an electro-magnetic system. In our own age, the computer has become the metaphor of choice. In fact, the picture of the mind as a computer has become one of the foundational assumptions of modern cognitive science. But what exactly does it mean to say that the mind is a computer? Can this approach to the mind make sense of our ability to represent the world around us or have conscious experiences? What consequences does this view of the mind have for how we understanding ourselves as personal agents? In this course, students will address these questions through readings and their own writings. The goal of this course is to introduce students to the prospects and problems of the Computational Theory of Mind (CTM), and thus to the philosophical foundations of Cognitive Science. Texbooks: Tim Crane, The Mechanical Mind: A Philosophical Introduction to Minds, Machines and Mental Representation, London: Routledge Press, 2003 (Second Edition). Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings, ed. by David J. Chalmers, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Grading Final grades will be determined on the basis of the following: Three discussion papers (25% each): In these 5-7 page papers, you will be asked to engage critically with a topic of your choice. A list of papers topics, as well as detailed instructions, will be made available two weeks before the due date of each paper. Weekly writing and class discussion (15%): Understanding flourishes in the context of discussion. For this reason, it is important that each of you take part in our discussions together. In addition to class discussion, you will be required to post on our online discussion board once each week. Your post should try to raise a question, or make a critical observation, about the reading to be discussed for the upcoming class; you may also respond to a post made by someone else in the class. Posts must be at least one paragraph (200-300 words) long, and due by 6:00 am, each Monday. Attendance (10%): Weekly attendance is required. You are allowed two unexcused absences, after which absences will negatively affect your grade. 3 Advice on reading and writing for the course: The reading for this class will be difficult, and will often require care and multiple attempts. Don’t let this discourage you; plan on readings the papers slowly, with a pen in hand. Mark the portions you don’t understand, and come back to them after you finished the paper. If you still don’t understand, write down your question and bring it with you to class. Jim Pryor—a philosophy professor at NYU— has a number of very helpful suggestions on philosophical reading and writing: http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/guidelines/reading.html http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/guidelines/writing.html He has also posted a glossary of various philosophical notions, many of which we will be using throughout the class: http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/vocab/index.html Policy on Academic Integrity: Plagiarism is a serious academic offense, and I will treat it as such in this class.Here is the University’s statement on plagiarism: Plagiarism is the representation of the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic work. To avoid plagiarism, every direct quotation must be identified by quotation marks, or by appropriate indentation, and must be cited properly according to the accepted format for the particular discipline. Acknowledgment is also required when material from any source is paraphrased or summarized in whole or in part in one's own words. To acknowledge a paraphrase properly, one might state: to paraphrase Plato's comment... and conclude with a footnote or appropriate citation to identify the exact reference. A footnote acknowledging only a directly quoted statement does not suffice to notify the reader of any preceding or succeeding paraphrased material. Information that is common knowledge, such as names of leaders of prominent nations, basic scientific laws, etc, need not be cited; however, the sources of all facts or information obtained in reading or research that are not common knowledge among students in the course must be acknowledged. In addition to materials specifically cited in the text, other materials that contribute to one's general understanding of the subject may be acknowledged in the bibliography. (You can find a full discussion of the University’s policy here: http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/integrity.shtml) Plagiarism can sometimes be a subtle issue. Students are very much encouraged to discuss any questions about what constitutes plagiarism with me at any point during the course. 4 Schedule: Readings from the Chalmers anthology indicated (PoM); readings with a * will be made available on Sakai. (To be revised, as the course develops. Check Sakai for updated reading list.) Introduction: The Problem of Intentionality Jan 20th Franz Brentano, “Mental and physical phenomena” (excerpt) (PoM). Roderick Chisholm, “Intentional Inexistence” (PoM). Week 1: Propositional Attitudes and the Nature of Representation Jan 24th: Tim Crane, TMM, Chapter 1. Jan 27th : *Jerry Fodor, “The Persistence of the Attitudes” Chapter 1 of Psychosemantics Week 2: Dualism and the Mind-Body Problem Jan 31st Tim Crane, TMM, Chapter 2. Feb 3rd Rene Descartes, “Passions of the soul” (excerpt) (PoM) Week 3: Behaviorism and the Identity Theory Feb 7th Gilbert Ryle, “Descartes' myth” (PoM). Feb 10th J. J. C. Smart, “Sensations and brain processes” (PoM) Week 4: Functions, Machines, and Intelligence Feb 14th: *Alan Turing “Computing machinery and intelligence.” *”Daniel Dennett, Can computers think?” Feb 17th Tim Crane, TMM, Chapter 3, (pp. 83—118). 5 Week 5: The Rise of Functionalism Feb 21st Hilary Putnam, “The nature of mental states” (PoM). Feb 24th: David Lewis, “Psychophysical and theoretical identifications”(PoM). Week 6: Functions meet Representations--The Computational Theory of Mind Feb 28th: No Class: Paper 1 Due Mar 3rd *Jerry Fodor, “Fodor’s Guide to Mental Representation.” Week 7: The Computational Theory of Mind—Part 2 Mar 7th Tim Crane, TMM, Chapter 4 (pp 130—159) Mar 10th Ned Block, “Troubles with Functionalism” (PoM). Week 8: Spring Break Mar 14th No Class Mar 17th No Class Week 9: The Chinese Room—Understanding in LOT Mar 21st: John Searle, “Can Computers Think?”(PoM). Tim Crane, Chapter 3, pp. 123-130. Mar 24th: *John Haugeland, “Syntax, Semantics, Physics.” Week 10: The Symbol Grounding Problem—Doing Semantics for LOT Mar 28th: *Stevan Harnad, “The Symbol-Grounding Problem.” Fred Dretske, “A recipe for thought” (PoM). Mar 31st: Tim Crane, TMM, Chapter 5. 6 Week 11: Levels of Explanation April 4th: *David Marr, Vision (Selections). *Allen Newell, “The Knowledge Level.” April 7th: No Class: Paper 2 Due Week 12: Thinking and Qualitative Experience April 11th: Thomas Nagel, “What is it like to be a bat?” (PoM) Frank Jackson, “Epiphenomenal qualia” (PoM) April 7th Tim Crane, TMM, Chapter 6. Week 13: Thinking and Qualitative Experience—Part 2 April 11th: Fred Dretske, “Conscious experience” (PoM). April 14th: Colin McGinn, “Can we solve the mind-body problem?” (PoM). Week 14: Computationalism and Personal Identity April 18th: *Robert Harnish: “What is a Computer Anyways?” (Selections). April 21st: *Daniel Dennett, “Where am I?” Week 15: Embodied Cognition April 25th: *Rodney Brooks, “Intelligence without representation.” April 28th: Andy Clark and David Chalmers, “The Extended Mind” (PoM). May 6th: Papers 3 due 8:00 am .
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