Dr. Dylan Ludwig
dylan.m.ludwig@gmail.com
Office Location:  S423 Ross Building
Phone Number:  TBA
Office Hours:  Thursdays, 12:30-1:30 (or by appointment)

How does philosophical thought contribute to empirical neuroscientific research? How does studying the brain and nervous system help us address significant philosophical problems? This course will explore the mutually informative relationship between philosophy and neuroscience. We will discuss the nature of neuroscientific research, its value and limitations as a philosophical resource, and how it can be brought to bear on a number of specific philosophical issues, including: representation, perception and cognition, emotion, social bias, and consciousness.

TBA

Attendance and Participation 5%-It is important to show up to each class ready to discuss the assigned reading material.

Reading Responses 40%-(Due at noon day of class) You will be asked to submit 4 short reading responses (worth 10% each) that will address topics that arise in the weekly assigned readings. These will be no more than 2 double-spaced pages, submitted to Turnitin BY NOON on the day of class where we will discuss the relevant readings. See Reading Schedule for specific dates.

Paper outline 15%-(Due October 27th) You will be asked to submit an outline for your final paper idea, no more than 2 double-spaced pages, that includes an abstract with thesis statement and outline of the main argumentative strategy, and a short literature review.

Final Paper 40%-(Due December 8^th) Submit a final paper to Turnitin, 10-12 double-spaced pages, normal formatting and citation rules apply.

Reading Schedule:

(All readings available online through the York University Library/eClass)

Week 1 September 8^th  Introduction: Course mechanics and core issues

Week 2-September 15^th Reductionism and Eliminativism

• Churchland, P. M. (1985). Reduction, Qualia, and the Direct Introspection of Brain States. The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 82, No. 1, pp. 8-28.
• Murphy, D. (2017). Brains and Beliefs: On the Scientific Integration of Folk Psychology. In Explanation and Integration in Mind and Brain Science, ed. David M. Kaplan. Oxford University Press.

Week 3- September 22^nd Special Sciences and Multiple Realizability ****Reading Response Due by Noon****

• Fodor, J. (1974). Special Sciences (Or: The Disunity of Science as a Working Hypothesis). Synthese, 28:2, 97-115.
• Aizawa, K. (2017). Multiple Realization, Autonomy and Integration. In Explanation and Integration in Mind and Brain Science, ed. David M. Kaplan. Oxford University Press.

Week 4- September 29^th Neuroscientific Methods: Progress and Problems

• Brett, M., Johnsrude I. S., & Owen, A. M. (2002). The Problem of Functional Localization in the Human Brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3, 243-249.
• Poldrack, R. A., & Yarkoni, T. (2016). From brain maps to cognitive ontologies: informatics and the search for mental structure. Annual review of psychology, 67, 587-612.

Week 5-October 6^th Structure and Function ****Reading Response Due by Noon****

• Price, C. & Friston, K. (2005). Functional ontologies for cognition: The systematic definition of structure and function. Cognitive Neuropsychology 22(3), 262–
• Anderson, M. L. (2014). Introduction. After phrenology: Neural reuse and the interactive brain. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Week 6 October 13^th - Reading Week: No Classes

Week 7-October 20^th  Case Study: Representation

• Poldrack, Russell A. (2020). The physics of representation. Synthese199 (1-2):1307-1325.
• Bednar, J. A., & Wilson, S. P. (2016). Cortical Maps. The Neuroscientist, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp. 604-617.

Week 8- October 27^th Case Study: Perception and Cognition ****Paper Outline Due****

• Mandelbaum, E. (2017). Seeing and Conceptualizing: Modularity and the Shallow Contents of Perception. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 97: 2, 267-283.
• Wu, W. (2017). Shaking up the Ground Floor: The Cognitive Penetration of Visual Attention. The Journal of Philosophy. Volume CXIV, No. 1, 5-32.

Week 9- November 3^rd Case Study: Emotion

• Barrett, L. F. & Wager, T. D. (2006). The structure of emotion: evidence from neuroimaging studies. Current Directions in Psychological Science, Volume 15, Number 2, 79-83.
• Sergerie, K., Chochol, C., & Armony, J. L. (2008). The Role of the Amygdala in Emotional Processing: A Quantitative Meta-Analysis of Functional Neuroimaging Studies. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, Vol. 32, 811-830.
• Beyeler, A. Chang, C-J., Silvestre, M. Leveque, C., Namburi, P., Wildes, C. P., & Tye, K. M. (2018). Organization of valence-encoding and projection-defined neurons in the basolateral amygdala. Cell Reports, 22: 905-918.

Week 10-November 10^th Case Study: Social Bias ****Reading Response Due by Noon****

• Phelps, E. A., O’Connor, K. J., Cunningham, W. A., & Funayama, E. S. (2000). Performance on indirect measures of race evaluation predicts amygdala activation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 12: 5, 729-738.
• Amodio, D. (2014). The Neuroscience of Prejudice and Stereotyping. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Volume 15, 670–682.

Week 11-November 17^th Case Study: Consciousness

• Berti, A. & Rizzolatti, G. (1992). Visual Processing without Awareness: Evidence from Unilateral Neglect. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 4(4).
• Koch, C., Massimini, M., Boly, M., & Tononi, G. (2016). Neural correlates of consciousness: progress and problems. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 17, pages 307–321.

Week 12 November 24^th -Case Study: Consciousness ****Reading Response Due by Noon****

• Dehaene, S., Changeux, J-P., Naccache, L., Sackur, J., & Sergent, C. (2006). Conscious, preconscious, and subliminal processing: a testable taxonomy. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Vol. 10, No. 5, 204-211.
• Tononi, G., Boly, M., Massimini, M. & Koch, C. (2016). Integrated information theory: from consciousness to its physical substrate. Nat Rev Neurosci17, 450–461.

Week 13 December 1^st -Case Study: Consciousness

• Lamme, V. A. F., & Roelfsema, P. R. (2000). The Distinct Modes of Vision Offered by Feedforward and Recurrent Processing. Trends in Neurosciences, 23, 571-579.
• Malach, R. (2021). Local neuronal relational structures underlying the contents of human conscious experience. Neuroscience of consciousness, 2021(2), niab028.

Syllabus subject to change given sufficient notice

TBA