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Overview
This
course
is about issues at the intersection of Philosophy of Mind, Cognitive
Science, Artificial Intelligence and Epistemology.
Philosophy of Representation
What
is the nature of mental states? Should thinking be thought of as largely linguistic?
How else might we think of mental states?
Do we need representations at all? How do developments in
cognitive science and AI affect how we approach the preceding questions?
To what extent, if any, should the linguistic turn in philosophy be
rethought? Cognitive and
Computational Epistemology
What (if any) are the implications of descriptive inquiry for normative
questions? What (if any) are the implications of normative inquiry for
descriptive questions?
Mindreading
This year, we also will study
issues in mental state ascription (a.k.a. "mindreading", mentalizing, or theory of mind).
Mindreading, in this non-psychic sense, has to do with our everyday
ability to attribute mental states (beliefs, desires, hopes,
fears,...) to others and to ourselves. All the preceding
and other questions will be brought to bear on the issue of mental
state ascription.
Prerequisite: at least one 200-level Philosophy course, or
consent of the instructor. |
