Philosophy of Mind

Code:

MFIL009

Acronym:

FM

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Philosophy

Instance: 2018/2019 - 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	13	MFIL - Study Plan	1	-	9	75	243

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

This course aims at providing a conceptual understanding of contemporary philosophy of mind, focusing on the way in which the themes of action, belief/desire and (conscious) experience appear in thought about ourselves, our language, our rationality and, generally speaking, our being in the world. The course will both aim to (1) provide an overview of the post-WW1 philosophy of mind(starting with two or three key points made by Descartes, Locke/Hume/Kant, Leibniz, Dilthey and Brentano/Frege) and (2) focus selectively, in historical sequence, on some of its most important representatives (for instance, Hempel, Ryle, Broad, Smart, Putnam, Davidson, Fodor, Churchland, Dennett, Searle or Chalmers), trying in this way to clarify some correlations between research in philosophy of mind and in cognitive science.

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 conceptual framework underlying discussions of action, intentionality and consciousness; (3) appreciate how many of the theories nowadays advanced about action, intentionality and consciousness are contentious and/or hardly comparable; (4) develop skills for engaging with more challenging reading and going deeper into the insights and problems, showing intellectual discrimination – the ability to pick out key points from the ideas presented and to construct an argument or interpretation.

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. From dualism in the philosophical tradition to contemporary forms of naturalistic materialism/physicalism. G. Ryle's dispositionalist behaviorism.
1.2 General overview of the phenomena: actions; attitudes; experiences.

2. Texts and theories.
2.1 C. G. Hempel, "The Logical Analysis of Psychology": the logical (conceptual or anaytic) behaviourism and its problems. G. Ryle's dispositionalist behaviorism.
2.2 J. J. C. Smart, "Sensations and Brain Processes": the theory of the (strict) identity mind-body/brain and its problems.
2.3 H. Putnam, "The Nature of Mental States": the turinguian (or machine) functionalism and its problems.
2.4 J. A. Fodor, "Psychosemantics - Introduction: The Persistence of the Attitudes": the symbolic computational functionalism and its problems. The new functionalisms: subsymbolic connectionistic functionalism and teleological functionalism.
2.5 P. M. Churchland, "Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes": the eliminative materialism and its problems. D. Dennett's case. The (simulationist) replicationistic's case.
2.6 D. Chalmers, "The Conscious Mind - Can Consciousness Be Reductively Explained?" and F. Jackson, "What Mary Didn't Know": the problem of consciousness and its 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
Chalmers, David J.; The conscious mind. ISBN: 0-19-511789-1 ("Chapter 3: Can consciousness be reductively explained?", p. 93-122.)
Davidson, Donald Herbert, 1917-2003; Subjective, intersubjective, objective. ISBN: 978-0-19-823753-2 ("Chapter 9: The emergence of thought", p. 123-134.)
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, Sofia; Uma^teoria fisicalista do conteúdo e da consciência. ISBN: 972-610-653-2
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

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
Miguens, Sofia; Será que a minha mente está dentro da minha cabeça?. ISBN: 978-989-625-347-9
Putnam, H.; Representation and Reality, MIT Press, 1988
Robinson, H. (ed.); Objections to physicalism, Clarendon, 1993
Ryle, Gilbert; The^concept of mind. ISBN: 0-14-055029-1
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 a guest lecturer to address a few 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	90,00
Frequência das aulas	75,00
Trabalho de investigação	60,00
Trabalho escrito	17,00
Total:	243,00

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.