PHIL 351 Philosophy of Mind
- PHIL 250/6.0 or PHIL 251/3.0 or PHIL 252/3.0 or permission of the Department
None
one-way Exclusions
- Seminars
TBA
Instructor: Nancy Salay
In this course, we will examine some of the major questions concerning the nature and functioning of the mind, as discussed in contemporary analytic philosophy and phenomenology, by way of a central guiding question: Does the mind function by representing and, if yes, how does it do this? Some of the specific discussions we will investigate include (not necessarily in this order):
- Is cognition a form of computation, that is, are minds computers? Or is that a misguided metaphor?
- Are there mental states? If yes, what sorts of things might these be?
- What are concepts? Are concepts in minds or extended across language-use behaviour?
- What role does language play in mind: is it a consequence or a condition of it?
- What exactly is a mind? Is it a thing having a location? Or is it better thought of as a set of capacities? Is it contained within a brain? Or does it extend across the tools that mind depends upon?
- Do minds (thoughts) cause behaviour? If yes, how?
- What is consciousness? What role does it play in cognition?
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will have demonstrated they can:
- integrate content from the course readings and in-class discussions to produce a portfolio of written work that reveals an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the philosophy of mind that approximately tracks the progression of the course in real time;
- communicate their assimilation of a reasonable subset of the course readings and in-class discussions via organized, cogent prose;
- support and enhance the learning of their peers via oral contributions to discussions, active listening, or other means provided or required by the syllabus;
- reconstruct arguments from the philosophical texts being studied and raise interpretive questions about or accurately targeted objections to those arguments, in written or oral forms as required by the syllabus, at an upper-intermediate level.
Assessments
Assessments
TBA
AI/Technology Policy:
Use of electronic devices in class is: Permitted
Use of AI (generative, agential, etc.) for work for this course is: Forbidden
Course technology policy statement: Use of AI (generative, agential, etc: Electronic devices are discouraged in the classroom (except as QSAS-mandated disability accommodation). Use of AI (generative, agential, etc.; in writing, editing or brainstorming your essays, completing make-up assignments, etc.) is strictly forbidden in this course.