| Course: | Philosophy 370: Philosophy of Mind |
| Time: | Fall 2025, MW, 1:30-2:45. |
| Location: | Humanities 107 |
| Instructor: | Geoff Goddu x8733 or 543-5676 (absolutely no later than 10 pm!). |
| Office Hours: | T: 12:00-2; W: 11:30-1:00; R: 10:00-12:00; and by appt. Humanities 401 |
Description: In this seminar we shall carefully analyze, compare, and evaluate numerous philosophical attempts to answer the following questions. How can we tell if something has a mind or is capable of thinking and not just a mindless zombie? What is the mind, anyway? What is thought? Consciousness? Do machines think? Do non-human animals have minds? Do they think? Are they conscious? What is the relationship between the mental and the physical? Between thought and action?
| Requirements: | 5 Short Papers | 30% |
| Term Paper: | 30% | |
| Final Exam: | 30% | |
| Participation | 10% (includes reading quizzes) |
Honor Code: Satisfaction of all the requirements must be by your own individual and independent work. All your work must be pledged.
Attendance: Every unexcused absence will result in a deduction of 1% from the total grade achieved satisfying the class requirements. You are responsible for all assigned material.
Provisional Schedule: [All readings and assignments are due at the beginning of class!]
| Day | Date | Topic | Readings and Assignments Due |
| I. Theories of Mind | |||
| 1 | M 8/25 | Introduction | Kim, Intro to Phil Mind |
| 2 | W 8/27 | Dualism | Kim Dualism 1; Hart |
| 3 | M 9/1 | Dualism | Kim Dualism 2; Papineau; McWeeny |
| 4 | W 9/3 | Behaviorism | Kim Behaviorism |
| 5 | M 9/8 | Type Identity Theory | Smart |
| 6 | W 9/10 | Machine Functionalism | Kim M-Functionalism; Putnam |
| 7 | M 9/15 | Causal Functionalism | Kim C-Functionalism; SP #1 |
| 8 | W 9/17 | Eliminative Materialism | Churchland |
| 9 | M 9/22 | Non-Reductive Materialism | Davidson, Goddu |
| 10 | W 9/24 | Non-Reductive Materialism | |
| 11 | M 9/29 | Challenges to Physicalism | Jackson; Horowitz; Kind |
| 12 | W 10/1 | Post-Physicalism? | Montero |
| II. Other Minds | |||
| 13 | M 10/6 |
The Turing Test | Turing |
| 14 | W 10/8 | The Turing Test | Gunderson; Purtill; SP #3 |
| Fall Break | Fall Break | Fall Break | |
| 15 | W 10/15 |
Godel and Machines | |
| 16 | M 10/20 | The Chinese Room | Searle |
| 17 | W 10/22 | The Chinese Room Redux | Copeland |
| 18 | M 10/27 | Thinking Machines? | Dennett-CMT |
| 19 | W 10/29 | Non-Human Animals | Gertler/Shapiro; Dupre; SP #4 |
| 20 | M 11/3 | Non-Human Animals | Gallup; Povinelli-1 |
| 21 | W 11/5 | Non-Human Animals | S-R/S/T; Povinelli-2 |
| 22 | M 11/10 | Little Green ...? | Christopher; Szocik/Abylkasymova. |
| III. Problems | |||
| 23 | W 11/12 | Consciousness | Kim-Consciousness; Gertler/Shapiro-C/Jayne. |
| 24 | M 11/17 | Consciousness | Chalmers; SP #5 |
| 25 | W 11/19 | Consciousness | McGinn; Flanagan |
| F 11/21 | Last Day for Term Paper Drafts | Last Day for Term Paper Drafts: 5pm! | |
| 26 | M 11/24 | The Extent of the Mind | Clark/Chalmers |
| Thanksgiving | Thanksgiving | Thanksgiving | |
| 27 | M 12/1 | The Extent of the Mind | Gertler |
| 28 | W 12/3 | Summation | Term Paper |