Philosophy of Mind

Code:

MFIL009

Acronym:

FM

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Philosophy

Instance: 2025/2026 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Philosophy
Course/CS Responsible:	Masters in Philosophy

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MFIL	15	study plan	1	-	6	41	162

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

This course aims at providing a logical and conceptual framework of the contemporary philosophy of mind, focusing on the way in which the themes of attitudes (involving, basically, beliefs and desires) and (conscious) experiences appear in thought about ourselves, our language, our rationality and, generally speaking, our being in the world. The course will provide an overview of the post-WW1 philosophy of mind (starting from some key points made by Descartes, Locke/Hume, Leibniz, Dilthey, Brentano and Frege) and focus selectively, in historical sequence, on some work of its most important representatives (for instance, C. Hempel, G. Ryle, C. D. Broad, A. Turing, J. J. C. Smart, H. Putnam, D. Davidson, J. Fodor, P. Churchland, D. Dennett, J. Searle, T. Nagel or D. Chalmers), trying in this way to clarify some correlations between research in philosophy of mind and in cognitive sciences.

Learning outcomes and competences

Upon sucessful completion of this course, students will be able to: (1) show familiarity with some of the major themes of contemporary philosophy of mind and be aware of how the ideas in philosophy of mind emerge out of a critical engagement both with the philosophical tradition and with life experience; (2) understand the logical and conceptual framework underlying discussion of attitudes and consciousness; (3) appreciate how many of the theories nowadays advanced about attitudes and consciousness are contentious and, sometimes, hardly comparable; (4) develop skills for engaging with more challenging (or recent) readings, going deeper into the insights and showing intellectual discrimination – the ability to pick out key points from the philosophical ideas discussed and, from there, to detect and construct interesting arguments (or, at least, textual interpretations).

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Not applicable.

Program

1. The basics.
1.1. Historical framework of the (recent) philosophy of mind. Dualism(s) in the philosophical tradition: the case from Descartes, the case from Locke-Hume, the case from Leibniz, the case from Dilthey, the case from Brentano and the case from Frege.
1.2 A general framework for the contemporary versions of naturalism.

2. The theories.
2.1 C. G. Hempel, "The Logical Analysis of Psychology": the logical (conceptual or anaytic) behaviourism and its problems.
2.2 G. Ryle's dispositionalist position. The emergentists' position.
2.3 J. J. C. Smart, "Sensations and Brain Processes": the theory of the (strict) identity mind-body/brain and its problems.
2.4 H. Putnam, "The Nature of Mental States": the Turinguian (or machine) functionalism and its problems.
2.5 J. A. Fodor, "Psychosemantics - Introduction: The Persistence of the Attitudes": the symbolic computational functionalism and its problems.
2.6 The renewed functionalisms: subsymbolic connectionistic functionalism and teleological functionalism.
2.7 P. M. Churchland, "Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes": the eliminative materialism and its problems. D. Dennett's case. The (simulationist) replicationistic's case.
2.8 D. Chalmers, "The Conscious Mind - Can Consciousness Be Reductively Explained?" and F. Jackson, "What Mary Didn't Know": the problem of phenomenal consciousness and its more recent developments (after T. Nagel's bat).

Mandatory literature

Block, N. (ed.); Readings in philosophy of psychology - vol. 1, Harvard Univ. Press, 1980 ((1) Hempel, C. G., "The logical analysis of psychology", p. 14-23; (2) Davidson, D., "Mental events", p. 107-119; (3) Putnam, H., "The nature of mental states", p. 223-231; (4) Block, N., "Troubles with functionalism", p. 268-305.)
Block, Ned 340; The nature of conciousness. ISBN: 0-262-02399-7
Dennett, Daniel Clement, 1942-; Consciousness explained. ISBN: 0-14-012867-0 ("Chapter 5: Multiple drafts versus the cartesian theater", p. 101-138.)
Fodor, Jerry A.; Psychosemantics. ISBN: 0-262-06106-6 ("Chapter 1: Introduction: the persistence of attitudes", p. 1-26.)
Guttenplan, Samuel 340; A^companion to the philosophy of mind. ISBN: 0-631-19996-9
Kim, Jaegwon; Philosophy of mind. ISBN: 0-8133-0776-7
McLaughlin, Brian P. 340; Contemporary debates in philosophy of mind. ISBN: 978-1-4051-1761-6
Miguens, S., Pinto, J. A., Couto, D. (eds.); Filosofia da Mente - Uma Antologia, UP Press, 2019
Moser, P. K., Trout, J. D. (eds.); Contemporary materialism: a reader, Routledge, 1995 ((1) Smart, J. J. C., "Sensations and brain processes/Postscript", p. 93-106; (2) Churchland, P. M., "Eliminative materialism and the propositional attitudes", p. 150-168; (3) Jackson, F., "What Mary didn't know/Postscript", p. 180-189.)
Pinto, João Alberto 340; Superveniência, materialismo e experiência. ISBN: 978-989-625-185-7
Gilbert Ryle; The^concept of mind. ISBN: 0-14-055029-1

Complementary Bibliography

Broad, C. D.; The mind and its place in nature, P Kegan, 1925
Churchland, Patricia Smith; Neurophilosophy. ISBN: 0-262-53085-6
Dennett, Daniel Clement, 1942-; Darwin.s dangerous idea. ISBN: 0-684-80290-2
Putnam, H.; Representation and Reality, MIT Press, 1988
Robinson, H. (ed.); Objections to physicalism, Clarendon, 1993
Warner, R., Szubka, T. (eds.); The mind-body problem: a guide to the current debate, Blackwell, 1994

Teaching methods and learning activities

Seminar sessions consisting in lectures, analysing and critically discussing (with the students) the articles and book's excerpts in the reading list, as well as another material considered relevant. (There is the possibility of inviting guest lecturers to address some specific topics.)

keywords

Humanities > Philosophy > Metaphysics
Humanities > Philosophy > Systematic philosophy

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	10,00
Trabalho escrito	90,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	1,00
Estudo autónomo	80,00
Frequência das aulas	41,00
Trabalho de investigação	20,00
Trabalho escrito	20,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

Students are required to attend at least 75% of classes (except in cases foreseen in the assessment regulations and those students who successfully passed in previous academic year).

Calculation formula of final grade

Mark awarded to written individual works (previously prepared and then presented/defended in a seminar session).

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not applicable.

Internship work/project

Not applicable.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

In accordance with assessment regulations in force.

Classification improvement

New written individual works.