PHI202   Philosophy of Mind   (20 credits)

Description

This module provides a survey of philosophical theories of the mind. One of the reasons why mental phenomena have been particularly interesting to philosophers is that they seem so unlike anything else there is in the world. Unlike gravity, or oxidation, or cell divison, there is something that it is like to think and perceive, and thoughts and experiences have content or are about things outside of the individual having those thoughts. Are experiences and thoughts simply neurological states and processes? If not, what else could they be? We'll look at a variety of answers to these questions and examine the most important and influential theories in recent philosophy of mind, including logical behaviorism, psychological behaviorism, central-state identity theory, functionalism, and the representational theory of mind.

Reading List