Most things don’t have minds. Mountains, molecules, apples, and suns are all without consciousness and thought. Yet somehow, in a universe in which barely anything can think, you can. You have a mind.
How is this possible? What does this mean?
This course introduces students to classic and contemporary debates in the philosophy of mind. We will investigate the nature of the human mind from a philosophical perspective, trying to make progress in one of the most mysterious fields of human inquiry.
The course is structured into seven modules:
Readings will be assigned for each day; students are expected to have done the readings before attending class. Some of the readings will be primary texts, and others will be expository texts designed to help students understand the main issues.
This is a synchronous online course. We'll be meeting over Zoom. Details on how to connect to our sessions will be sent over e-mail.
Our meetings will be largely lecture/presentation based, though there will be plenty of class discussion as well. Please come prepared to participate. Having your video on is appreciated but not required.
Recordings of the lectures will be made available through Moodle.
Suzanne Cunningham, What Is a Mind? An Integrative Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind. Hackett. ISBN: 978-0-87220-518-5
Rocco J. Gennaro, Mind and Brain: A Dialogue on the Mind-Body Problem, 2nd Edition. Hackett. ISBN: 978-1-62466-854-8
John Perry, Dialogue on Consciousness: Minds, Brains, and Zombies. Hackett. ISBN: 978-1-62466-736-7
Justin Leiber, Can Animals and Machines Be Persons?. Hackett. ISBN: 978-0-87220-002-9
All are available at the campus bookstore.
Other required readings will be distributed in class.
Students will be graded on two different sorts of assessment activity: take-home problem sets and philosophical dialogues. There will two problem sets and three philosophical dialogues, each worth 20% of the final grade. See the calendar below for due dates.
The philosophical dialogue is a time-honored medium for expressing philosophical arguments. A dialogue is a piece of philosophy written in a play-like format: characters meet and verbally spar with one another, presenting arguments for and against various positions. It is an excellent way to explore the strengths and weaknesses of philosophical views. Some of the oldest philosophical writings that exist are dialogues.
Three times over the course of the semester, you will be asked to write a philosophical dialogue, 800-1200 words long, on a given philosophical topic. For instance, you might be asked to write a dialogue between two characters who disagree on whether dogs have free will. (This is just an example: don't go running to the library to check out books on dogs and free will.) Both characters should be presented as intelligent and both should make reasonable arguments. In class, we'll go over details about what makes a good dialogue.
For the first dialogue, I'll give a lot of guidelines about what I'm looking for in the structure and content. You'll be less tightly constrained and have more creative freedom for the other two.
In order to get you accustomed to this style of philosophy, three different dialogues have been assigned as readings early on in the semester (they are the Gennaro, the Perry, and the Smullyan readings). We will go through them together. The optional texts available at the bookstore are other dialogues in philosophy of mind. You might find that you want to read them as well to get a better feel for the format.
The problem sets will be exam-like in nature. Each will consist mainly of multiple choice questions, though some questions might be in other formats, such as short- or long-answer questions. The questions are designed to test your comprehension and mastery of the readings and the material discussed in class. You will have about a week to complete each after it is distributed. The last one will be due during the exam period (but you can submit it earlier, if you wish).
Click on a class date to scroll down to the assigned readings for that class.
Ranges are inclusive.
(For example, if it says that you should read sections 1-3, this means you should read sections 1, 2, and 3.)
| Date | Module | Readings |
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| Jan 13 | Introduction | |
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| Jan 18 | Dualism |
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| Jan 27 |
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| Jan 29 | Physicalism |
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| Feb 10 |
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| Feb 15 |
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| Feb 19 | Consciousness |
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| Mar 1 |
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| Mar 12 | Animal Minds |
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| Mar 15 |
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| Mar 19 |
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| Mar 24 |
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| Mar 26 | Computer Minds |
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| Apr 9 | Emotions |
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| Apr 14 |
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| Apr 16 |
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| Apr 19 | The Self |
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The last few semesters have been weird. This one will be weird as well. I am committed to making the course the best that it can be given the unpleasant circumstances, and this means that I am willing to experiment with teaching techniques and change things on the fly if they are not working. But this can only happen if you let me know what you feel isn't working! Please do. I will do my best to accommodate.
What I need from you is the kindness of helping me out. Stay engaged, and participate! This will make your overall experience better in the long run. Online learning carries all sorts of temptations; you will be tempted to tab over to some other site and try to multitask. Don't! For all of our sakes, don't do it! If we're all engaged and discussing the material together, we'll learn a lot more, you'll get better value, and our short time together will be a lot more fun. (For my part, I will try to keep things lively and engaging enough that you'll never want to browse the web. But I know that I'm competing with your friend's embarrassing Instagram feed, and that's a tough match-up, so I'll need you to pledge your attention to the class.)
You are expected to do graded activities on your own. You can talk about material in the course and strategies for solving general sorts of problem with friends, peers, and tutors (and I encourage you to!), but you should not discuss specific problems that have been assigned. Violations of the Clarkson University academic integrity policy will have serious and disastrous repercussions. The punishment for cheating will always be worse for you than the worst outcome had you not cheated, and it is easier to spot cheating than you think. You can familiarize yourself with the Clarkson undergraduate regulations in Appendix C of the handbook here.
Don't let this dissuade you from having conversations about your papers and the course material with other classmates outside of class. Conversation is always encouraged!
Please inform me of special needs that you may have. The sooner you notify me, the better I will be able to accommodate you.
I reserve the right to change details in the syllabus at my discretion. I will only do so fairly and with plenty of warning.