• to introduce central concepts of the philosophy of mind;
• to present classical philosophical problems concerning the mind and their relevance to main issues in cognitive science.

• demonstrate a working knowledge of the most important concepts and ideas of philosophy of mind;
• discuss the good and the bad points of the various solutions of the main problems of philosophy of mind.

• lectures focusing on key ideas and problems;
• guided reading;
• tutor-led group discussions.

Philosophy of Mind: An Overview for Cognitive Science, N. J., 1988.

Bunge, M.,

The Mind-Body Problem, Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1980.

Dennet, D. C.,

Consciousness Explained, Boston: Little, Brown & Co, 1991.

Hofstadter, D. & Dennett, D.,

The Mind's I,N. Y.: Basic Books, 1981.

O Nuallain, S.,

The Search for Mind, N. J.: Ablex, 1995.

Popper, K.,

Objective Knowledge,Oxford: Clarendon, 1972.

Popper, K., Eccles, J.,

The Self and Its Brain, Berlin, 1977.

Posner, M. (ed.),

Foundations of Cognitive Science, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1991.

Introduction - what is the place of philosophy among the others sciences of mind; the subject of philosophy of mind; the problem-oriented approach to the study of philosophy of mind.

• An account of the main approaches to mind - introspection, the observation of human behaviour and the neurophysiological data as sources of information about human mind.
• Ten themes in philosophy of mind - the mind-body problem, the free will, intentionality, qualia, representations, the self and I, consciousness and unconsciousprocesses, language and thought, intersubjectivity, origins and evolution of human mind.

Introduction

Topic 1: What is philosophy? - The nature of philosophical problems. - The subject of philosophy of mind. - A brief account of the main themes of this course.
Required reading:

• Chapter 1 of [Bechtel, 1988]

Additional reading:

• Chapter 1 of [O Nuallain, 1995]

Approaches to mind

Topic 2: Different definitions of mind. - Sources of knowledge of mind: introspection, the observation of human behaviour, neurophysiological data. - Pro and contra introspection. - Reductionism and anti-reductionism.
Required reading:

• Chapter 1 of [O Nuallain, 1995]

Additional reading:

• Chapter 1 of [Bunge, 1980]

Basic themes in philosophy of mind

Topic 3: The mind-body problem: ancient variants, the classical formulation of Descartes, contemporary forms. - Monism and dualism. - Bunge's classification of the various solutions of the mind-body problem.
Required reading:

• Chapter 1 of [Bunge, 1980]

Additional reading:

• Chapters 5 and 6 of [Bechtel, 1988]
• Chapter P5 of [Popper & Eccles, 1977]

Topic 4: The mind-body problem: main arguments pro and contra different solutions. - Types of arguments. - The mind-body problem in the context of religion and science.
Required reading:

• Chapter 1 of [Bunge, 1980]

Additional reading:

• Chapter 21 of [Posner, 1991]

Topic 5: The problem of free will. - The free will in the context of the controversion determinism/indeterminism.
Required reading:

• Chapter 6 of [Popper, 1972]

Additional reading:

• Chapter E3 of [Popper&Eccles, 1977]

Topic 6: Intentionality: a historical review of the problem from Brentano to Dennett.
Required reading:

• Chapter 3 of [Bechtel, 1988]

Additional reading:

• Chapter 21 of [Posner, 1991]

Topic 7: Philosophical strategies for explaining intentionality. - The computational theory of mind. - The information theoretic approach. - The biologocal reduction approach. - The intentional stance approach.
Required reading:

• Chapter 4 of [Bechtel, 1988]

Additional reading:

• Chapter 21 of [Posner, 1991]

Topic 8: The problem of qualia: from Lock's secondary qualities to Dennett's "qualia disqualified".
Required reading:

• Chapter 12 of [Dennett, 1991]

Additional reading:

• Chapter 21 of [Posner, 1991]

Topic 9: The representational nature of mind: philosophical and technical interpretations. - The place of the knowledge representation hypothesis in cognitive science. - Against representationism: philosophical support and methodological considerations.
Required reading:

• Chapter 2 of [Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1987). Computation and Cognition. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.]

Additional reading:

• Searle, J. Minds, brains and programs. In: [Hofstadter & Dennett, 1981].

Topic 10: The unity of mind and the problem of selfhood. - Does the mind's I really exist?
Required reading:

• Chapter P4 of [Popper & Eccles, 1977]

Additional reading:

• Chapter 13 of [Dennett, 1991]
• [Hofstadter & Dennett, 1981]

Topic 11: Theories of unconscious mind.
Required reading:

• Chapter 3 of [Flanagan, O. (1984). The Science of Mind. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.]

Additional reading:

• Chapter 8 of [Leathey, T. H. (1980). A HIstory of Psychology. N. J.: Prentice Hall.]

Topic 12: Language and mind, the language of mind: Vygotsky, Chomsky, Fodor.
Required reading:

• Chapter 6 of [Flanagan, O. (1984). The Science of Mind. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.]

Additional reading:

• Chapters 10 & 11 of [Dennett, 1991]

Topic 13: Intersubjectivity. - Carl Popper's theory of objective mind. - Speech act theory: Austin, Searle and Grice.
Required reading:

• Chapter 4 of [Popper, 1972]

Additional reading:

• Chapter 2 of [Bechtel, 1988]

Topic 14: The origin of mind: philosophical and scientific theories. - Spenser, Bergson, Vygotsky and Piaget.
Required reading:

• Chapter 2 of [Wuketits, F. M. (1989). Evolutionary Epistemology and Its Implications for Humankind. N.Y.: State University of New York Press.]

Additional reading:

• Chapter 7 of [Dennett, 1991]

Topic 15: Evolutionary epistemology and the problem of the development of mind and consciousness. - The arguments of P. Thagard against evolutionary epistemology.
Required reading:

• Chapter 2 of [Wuketits, F. M. (1989). Evolutionary Epistemology and Its Implications for Humankind. N.Y.: State University of New York Press.]

Additional reading:

• Chapter 6 of [Thagard, P. (1988). Computational Philosophy of Science. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.]