Philosophy of the Mind
What is a mind and what is consciousness? Are artificial intelligences genuine minds? Could trees be conscious? What are the implications of artificial intelligence for creativity and morality? How can we scientifically study the mind? These are some of the questions you can explore in this course, which uses philosophy and cognitive science to investigate the nature of the mind, consciousness and cognition. Course materials include classical and contemporary writing by philosophers and cognitive scientists, as well as videos and podcasts of philosophers and cognitive scientists debating the issues. Students will also cultivate study skills and learn how to write and debate with clarity and rigor. Depending on their interests, students can focus on interpreting scientific experiments or focus more on philosophical issues to do with the mind and consciousness.
Pre-approved Topic List
- Are conscious minds physical, material things, or are they non-physical? For example, is the human brain a mind, or must minds be something else, over and above the brain?
- Could artificial intelligences be conscious? Could they have emotions?
- What is pain? Is it a state of the brain? Could a robot feel pain?
- What do perceptual illusions and hallucinations reveal about the nature of consciousness and perception? Do we ever ‘directly’ see the world as it really is?
- Can science explain consciousness, or will consciousness always be mysterious to science?
- Can the conscious experiences that we have when we see, hear and smell be influenced by our prior beliefs, expectations and desires?
- In the future, will we read novels and listen to music written by artificial intelligences?
- Could artificial intelligence bring about the end of the human species?
- What are delusions? To understand what is going on when people suffer from delusions, must we postulate abnormalities in how beliefs are formed and maintained, or does it suffice to appeal to abnormalities in perception or experience?
- What is the structure of the mind? How does it process information?
- Is the human mind best understood as a kind of computer?
- What exactly is consciousness?
- Could panpsychism – the view that all matter is conscious – actually be true?
- Do we have free will?