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The Philosophy and Cognitive Science of Consciousness

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The Philosophy and Cognitive Science of Consciousness The Philosophy and Cognitive Science of Consciousness Conscious experience is at once both completely familiar and utterly mysterious: how is it that electrical activity in a lump of grey matter – the brain – gives rise to the Technicolor phenomenology of our conscious experience? If human beings are just biological machines, then how is possible that we have a subjective point of view on the world? Why are we not just mindless robots, that produce behavior in light of stimulations from the environment, but lack any inner awareness or consciousness? In this class we will read, and bring together in conversation, cutting edge work from philosophy, psychology, and the neurosciences on the nature of consciousness. Instructor Details [email protected] Department of Philosophy Yale University 344 College Street New Haven, CT, 06511 Locations, Times, and Format Class Time: Tuesday & Thursday 1pm-4.15pm Location: TBA Office Hours: TBA Location: Bass Library Foyer Format: Each class will begin with the brief introductory lecture by the instructor. Then there will be a seminar style discussion until the last half hour or so of class. Normally, we will spend the last half hour of class discussing how to research, plan, and write your assigned papers. Prerequisites None. This class will presuppose no background in philosophy or cognitive science. Grading Participation 20% Quiz 20% July 11th, during class Paper #1 20% due July 15th at 5 pm in my inbox 1 Paper #2 40% due July 27th at 5 pm in my inbox The first paper will be 5 pages and a response to a prompt that I distribute. It will ask you to evaluate an argument and give one objection to the argument and then give a reply to that objection. The second paper will be 7-10 pages. In this paper, you will be asked to evaluate an argument, or theory, and give an objection to that argument or theory, a reply, and a second objection (either to the initial argument or theory, or to the reply). You will get lots of help from me, both in class and in office hours, in planning and writing your papers so don’t worry too much about all this now! Attendance and Academic Integrity Attendance is mandatory. No unexcused absences are allowed. All ideas and experimental findings reported in your papers must be appropriately cited. I will help you make sure that your paper is cited properly. Textbook and Readings Chalmers, D. 1996. The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. Oxford University Press, Oxford We will be reading four chapters from Chalmers’ book. It will therefore serve as the unofficial textbook for the course. I will make sure it is available for purchase from the Yale Bookstore. There should also be a PDF version of it available online. The other readings will also be made available to you online. Part 1: The Philosophy of Consciousness First Class: Two Concepts of Consciousness? Chalmers, D. 1996. ‘Two Concepts of Mind’, Chapter 1 of his The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory, Oxford University Press. Second Class: Supervenience and Explanation Chalmers, D. 1996. ‘Supervenience and Explanation’, Chapter 2 from his The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory, Oxford University Press. Third Class: The Hard Problem of Consciousness Chalmers, D. 1996. ‘Can Consciousness Be Reductively Explained?’, Chapter 3 from his The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory, Oxford University Press. Fourth Class: Dualism Chalmers, D. 1996. ‘Naturalistic Dualism’, Chapter 4 from his The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. Fifth Class: Physicalism 2 Stoljar, D. 2005. Physicalism and Phenomenal Concepts. Mind and Language, 20 (2): 296-302 Part 2: The Cognitive Science of Consciousness Sixth Class: The Global Workspace Theory of Consciousness Dehaene, S. & Naccache, L. 2001. Towards a Cognitive Neuroscience of Consciousness: Basic Evidence and a Workspace Framework. In The Cognitive Neuroscience of Consciousness (Eds. Dehaene), Cognition. 1-38 Seventh Class: Global Workspace Part 2 Block, N. 2011. Perceptual Consciousness overflows Cognitive Access. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(12): 567-575 Rees, G., Kreiman, G. & Koch, C. 2002. Neural Correlates of Consciousness in Humans. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3(4): 261-270 Eighth Class: Higher-Order Thought Theories of Consciousness Lau, H. & Rosenthal, D. 2011. Empirical Support for Higher-Order Theories of Conscious Awareness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(8): 365-373 Ninth Class: Against Higher-Order Thought Theories Block, N. 2011. The Higher-Order Approach to Consciousness is Defunct. Analysis, 71(3): 419-431 Tenth Class: Consciousness and Information Tononi, G., Boly, M., Missimini, G. & Koch, C. 2006. Information Integrated Theory: From Consciousness to its Physical Substrate. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 17: 450-461 Chalmers, D. 1996. ‘Consciousness and Information: Some Speculations’ from his The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory, Oxford University Press. 3 .
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