Paper assignment

 

PHIL 346: Minds, Brains, and Computers

 

Spring 2008

Monday/Wednesday

All sections: 9:00-9:50 CHVEZ 301

 

Friday

Section 1: 9:00-9:50 M LNG 502

Section 2: 10:00-10:50 M LNG 203

Section 3: 11-11:50 PAS 312

 

Instructor: Shaun Nichols

Office: Social Sciences 318c

Phone: 626-0616

Office Hours: Wednesday, 1:00-2:00; Friday, 2:00-3:00, and by appointment

 

Course website: http://dingo.sbs.arizona.edu/~snichols/courses/PHIL346.htm

 

Course description: This course is an introduction to central issues in cognitive science. We will begin by reviewing work on cognitive architecture and the philosophical foundations of cognitive science. Then we will consider in greater depth four contemporary research domains: moral intuition, free will, the self, and reasoning.

 

Warning: Although this course doesn't have any prerequisites in philosophy or psychology, we will be moving very quickly through some sophisticated material, especially in the first several weeks.

 

Readings: All readings will be available on the web, either linked through this syllabus or on ereserve: http://eres.library.arizona.edu/eres/courseindex.aspx?page=search

 

Course requirements and grading:

Two essay exams (midterm and final), 30% each

Midterm exam: February 18th

Final exam: Friday, May 16, 8-10AM

One paper (2000 words), due April 25th, 35%

Assignment details

Class participation (in section) 5%

 

University boilerplate:

You need a good excuse, in advance, to miss an exam or to hand in a paper late. All holidays or special events observed by organized religions will be honored for those students who show affiliation with that particular religion. Absences pre-approved by the UA Dean of Students (or Dean's designee) will be honored.


I expect acceptable classroom behavior at all times. Disruptive or threatening behavior may result in disciplinary procedures leading to severe penalties. See the UA Policy on Threatening Behavior by Students, and documents referenced therein.

Students with Disabilities
Students with physical, psychological, or learning disabilities who anticipate needing accommodations in this course are encouraged to register with the S.A.L.T. Center or the Disability Resource Center. Students with special needs who are registered with the S.A.L.T. Center or the Disability Resource Center are reminded that they must submit appropriate documentation as soon as possible if they are requesting special accommodations.

 

TA:

 

Marc Johansen

email: mejohans@u.arizona.edu

Office: Social Sciences 130

Office phone: 621-7098

Office hours: Monday 8-9; Wednesday 8-9 and 3-4

 

Tentative Schedule

 

Foundations of cognitive science

 

Jan. 16: Introduction and initial review of Mind/Body Problem

[Jan. 18: Discussion: introductions, background, what is the mind/body problem?]

 

Jan. 21: No class (MLK day)

Jan. 23: Review: Behaviorism, Identity Theory, and Functionalism

 

Jan. 28: Turing, Computing Machinery and Intelligence Read sections 1, 2, and then these parts of section 6: 6.2, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.8.

Jan. 30: Fodor, The Big Idea ERES

[Feb 1: Discussion: Turing test]

 

Feb. 4: Daniel Dennett (1978). Artificial intelligence as philosophy and psychology. From Brainstorms. MIT Press.

Feb. 6: David Marr (1982). Vision, chapter 1

[Feb 8: Discussion: Dennett]

 

Feb. 11: Fodor (1985). Precis to Modularity of Mind, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 8, 1-5.

Feb. 13: Descartes, Meditations II and VI; Discourse on Method, Part Five

[Feb 15: Discussion: Descartes]

 

Feb. 18: Exam 1

 

Moral intuitions

 

Feb 20: Philosophical background:

John Fischer & Mark Ravizza (1992). Ethics: Problems and Principles, excerpts

 

Feb 25 & 27: Neuroimagining:

Joshua Greene, Sommerville, R. B., Nystrom, L., Darley, J., & Cohen, J. (2001). An fMRI investigation of emotional engagement in moral judgment. Science, 293, 2105 - 2108.

Koenigs et al. 2007

Moll vs. Greene in TICS

 

March 3: Hauser group

Fiery Cushman, Liane Young & Marc Hauser (2006). The Role of Reasoning and Intuition in Moral Judgments: Testing three principles of harm. Psychological Science 17(12)

March 5: Greene, Secret of Kant's soul: pp. 40-41 & 59-72 (esp. 66-72)

 

Free will and cognitive science

 

March 10: Philosophical background: O'Connor, T. 'Free Will' in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/freewill/

March 12: John Bargh and Melissa Ferguson, 2000. Beyond Behaviorism: On the automaticity of higher mental processes. Psychological Bulletin, v. 126, 925-45.

 

March 24: No Class

March 26: Wegner, D. 2001. On the Illusion of Conscious Will. MIT Press, chapter 3

 

March 31: Neuropsychology: Libet

April 2: Mele on Libet; Vohs & Schooler 2007

 

Reasoning and rationality

 

April 7: Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185, 1124-1131.

April 9: Stich (1985). Could Man Be an Irrational Animal? Synthese, 64, 115-34.

 

April 14: Gigerenzer: "How to make cognitive illusions disappear"

April 16: Samuels et al.: "Rationality and Psychology"

 

The self

April 21: Parfit, "Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons" in Blakemore and Greenfield Mindwaves (1987): 19-28. (ereserve)

April 23: Gallagher, S. (2000). Philosophical conceptions of the self. TICS 4, 14-21.

 

April 28: NO CLASS

April 30: Baumeister, R. F. (1998). The self. In Gilbert et al, eds., Handbook of Social Psych, 4th ed., pp. 680-740.

 

May 5: Klein, S. B. et al. (2002). A social-cognitive neuroscience analysis of the self. Social Cognition 20: 105-35.

May 7: Tulving 2005