Course Description
The philosophical implications of alternative approaches to psychology such as the behavioral, the psychoanalytic, the phenomenological, with particular attention to such problematic areas as the nature and validation of psychological concepts, law, and theories, and the knowledge of other minds.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Longer term-paper, possibly an in-class presentation, and higher standards for all assigned work.
Athena Title
PHILOSOPHY OF MIND
Prerequisite
Any 3000-level PHIL course or ARTI(PSYC)(EPSY)(PHIL) 3550 or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course addresses the following questions from a variety of differing perspectives: What are minds, and how are they known? How well do we know our own minds? Can we ever know the minds of others as well as we know our own? What is the relation between mind and body? Does meaning reside in our heads? Is mental causation (top down control) possible, and if so, how? Can we account for the existence of phenomenal experience, and if so, how?
Topical Outline
This course will include such topics as: I. What are minds, and how are they known? II. How well do we know our own minds? III. Can we ever know the minds of others as well as we know our own? IV. What is the relation between mind and body? V. Does meaning reside in our heads? VI. Is mental causation (top down control) possible, and if so, how? VII. Can we account for the existence of phenomenal experience, and if so, how?
Syllabus