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[ Course Requirements ] [ Schedule of Readings ] [ Journal Timeline ] |
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Course Description: Welcome to philosophy of mind boot camp! Once you’ve finished (and passed) this course, you should be familiar with many of the central issues in contemporary philosophy of mind, including modern versions of the mind-body problem, the nature of mental states, mental causation, consciousness, and intentionality. |
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Required Text: (Should be available at the University Bookstore. Acquire it ASAP!) Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary |
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Relevant Websites: Dave Chalmer’s Website: http://jamaica.u.arizona.edu/~chalmers/index.html Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html A Field Guide to the Philosophy of
Mind: http://host.uniroma3.it/progetti/kant/field/index.html Dictionary of Philosophy of
Mind: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~philos/MindDict/main.html |
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Course Requirements:
Over the course of the term, I will assign 3-4 short (4-5 page) essay
questions. In addition, students will
also be asked to choose a relevant article that's been published in a major
philosophy journal or anthology within the past five years, on which they are
to write a brief (5-6 page) commentary to be presented before the
class. These commentaries will then be
compiled in a class journal, the production of which every student
will be expected to assist through timely review of others’ contributions
(see the timeline below). Finally, for
each of my lectures, I will assign one member of the class to take notes for
that day. Everyone will be asked to
take notes at least once during the semester.
Notetakers will be expected to distribute their notes and to present a
5-10 minute summary of the lecture at the beginning of the next class
meeting. I also reserve the right to conduct a final exam over exam week. |
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Copyright Disclaimer: The
university requires all members of the university community to familiarize
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policies. To familiarize yourself with
copyright and fair use policies, the university encourages you to visit its
copyright website at http://www.unlv.edu/committees/copyright. |
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Learning and Enhancement Services (LES) houses Disability
Services, Tutoring Services, and Learning Strategies. If you have a
documented disability that requires assistance, you will need to contact LES
for coordination in your academic accommodations. LES is located in the
Reynolds Services Complex, |
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Course Plan: For the first two-thirds of the semester, we’ll march through several
of the topics and readings in the Chalmers anthology in the order outlined
below. The remaining class sessions
will be devoted to in-class student presentations.
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Journal Timeline: As mentioned on the syllabus, our major class project this semester will be the compilation of a peer-reviewed class journal. Here are the important deadlines that must be observed, if this ambitious endeavor is to be completed on schedule. Aug 31- Sep 28: Authors select target articles (according to the guidelines below) and provide three photocopies to the editor and one to me. Oct. 5: Editor distributes list of target articles to reviewers (that's everyone). Oct. 12: Reviewers communicate to the editor the target articles on which they'd prefer to review submissions. Editor begins to arrange reviewers for journal submissions, so that reviewers can prepare themselves. (Please bear in mind that no one may review their own submission and that reviewers should try to avoid revealing their identities to authors. Nov. 2: Submissions of journal contributions due to the editor (either 3 paper copies or e-mail). Nov. 9: Editor distributes submissions to reviewers (two reviewers for each submitted paper). Nov. 18: Reviewer reports due back to editor. Nov. 23: Editor sends reviewer reports to authors, along with editorial suggestions. Dec. 2: Author revisions due back to editor (one electronic and one paper). Dec. 7: Editor sends page proofs back to authors. Dec. 9: Proofs due back to editor. Finals Week (Dec. 13-17): Journal is bound and released!! |
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Parameters for suitable target articles: Your target article should…
o Intentionality and Mental Content o Mental Causation o Consciousness (The Hard Problem, Explanatory Gap, Knowledge Argument, Qualia) o Non-linguistic Thought (Animal Minds and Intentionality) o First-Person Authority and Privileged Access (Knowledge of one’s own mind) o Emotions in the Philosophy of Mind Hint: Pick one of these topics or subtopics and then do a subject search through the Philosopher’s Index… or you may simply browse the current periodicals, if you prefer. |