Professor Verena Gottschling
vgott@yorku.ca
Office Location:  S444 Ross Building
Phone Number:  (416) 736-2100 Ext. 44722

Office Hours:  TBA

The course an online course. All course lectures, information, activities, and assignments can be found on Moodle/eclass.

What is the mind and how is it related to the brain? And what does either of them have to do with computation, Artificial Intelligence, and Neuroscience? This course is an intermediate course in Philosophy of Mind designed to familiarize you with the central questions, debates, topics, methods, and techniques involved in studying Philosophy of Mind. You will encounter many interesting empirical results, as well as a number of open questions and stimulating controversies. This course is a survey of some of the main issues and theories as written by contemporary analytic philosophers of mind. By successfully completing this course, you will improve your ability to read first order original sources, evaluate others’  arguments and to create your own. Your writing and speaking skills should improve. You will also learn about contemporary figures and theories in the philosophy of mind.

You will learn about different positions regarding the ontological status of the mind, the nature of mental causation, and theories of consciousness Other possible questions we might touch on include: What is the role of experience for the mind body relationship? Is language necessary for thought? What does it mean to be a person? What is free will? What is the relationship between emotions and rationality? What is creativity and what is mental imagery?

We will use of mix of textbook material and several first order sources (papers).

John Heil, Philosophy of Mind. A Contemporary Introduction,

Edition 2nd Edition, First Published 2004

eBook Published 19 May 2004

London: Routledge

(available online at the library)

The other papers are available online at the library or will be posted on the eclass/moodle page.

Weekly homework: 10%

Forum, class and group activity in class 20%

Two short analysis assignments 40% (each 20%)

Final Exam 30%

The course in an online course with both asynchronous, as well as synchronous activities, the synchronous activities are required as well.

To ensure that you receive a high quality and hopefully transformative educational experience, regular participation is a requirement of this class. Typical weeks include required reading, viewing some video/audio content, participating in discussion forums and at Zoom lectures with Q&A and discussion, as well as completing an assignment or an exam. To be successful in this class, you will need to log in at least several times per module to access course materials and to participate actively in the class.

After completing this course, students should be able to:

1. Understand in some depth the main topics in contemporary analytic Philosophy of Mind, including: different views of the relationship between the body and the mind.
2. Improve their ability to evaluate others’ arguments and to create their own.
3. Develop the ability to write analyses of arguments
4. Know about several contemporary figures in the Philosophy of Mind.