PHIL2207 - Schedule, readings, and slides

The course reader, available from the university bookshop, contains many of the readings for this course. Others may be added here.

Module 1: Mind and mechanism

Week 1 (March 10)

• Excerpt from Descartes' Discourse on Method, Part 5. This is not in the reader.
• T.H. Huxley, On the Hypothesis that Animals are Automata, and its History. Also in the reader. Concentrate on the part from p. 216 (first full para) to the middle of p. 244.
• The class survey is here
• Slides for this week: PDF (1 per page) | PDF (4 per page)
• The extra notes for this week have been revised and moved to week 4

Week 2 (March 17)

• More on Descartes and Huxley
• William James, The Automaton-Theory. After Huxley in the PDF.
• Slides for this week: PDF (1 per page) | PDF (4 per page)

Week 3 (March 31)

• Owen Flanagan, Conscious Inessentialism and the Epiphenomenalist Suspicion. After William James in the PDF. Also in the reader.
• Slides for this week: PDF (1 per page) | PDF (4 per page)

Week 4 (April 7)

• Notes on the relation between dualism and epiphenomenalism. To read preferably before Jackson's article. These notes are part of the course material for this week.
• Frank Jackson, Epiphenomenal Qualia.
• Slides for this week: PDF (1 per page) | PDF (4 per page)

Module 2: Science and Folk Psychology

Week 5 (April 14)

• Thomas Nagel, Brain Bisection and the Unity of Consciousness (in reader).
• First test. All you need to know about the test is on the assessment page.
• Slides for this week: PDF (1 per page) | PDF (4 per page)

Week 6 (April 21)

• Kathy Wilkes, More Brain Lesions (in reader).
• Information on the essay.
• Slides for this week: PDF (1 per page) | PDF (4 per page)

Week 7 (April 28)

• Paul Churchland, Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes.
• Slides for this week: PDF (1 per page) | PDF (4 per page)

Week 8 (May 5)

• Daniel Dennett, Three Kinds of Intentional Psychology (in reader).
• Review of module 2.
• Slides for this week: PDF (1 per page) | PDF (4 per page)

Module 3: Free will

Week 9 (May 12)

• Benjamin Libet, Do We Have Free Will? (in reader)
• Second test
• Slides for this week: PDF (1 per page) | PDF (6 per page)

Week 10 (May 19)

• Daniel Dennett, Are You Out of the Loop? (in reader)
• Slides for this week: PDF (1 per page) | PDF (6 per page)

Week 11 (May 26)

• Patricia Churchland, Free Will (in reader).
• Slides for this week: PDF (1 per page) | PDF (6 per page)

Week 12 (June 2)

• Derk Pereboom, Determinism Al DenteSlides for this week: PDF (1 per page) | PDF (6 per page)
• Information on final exam.

After the end of classes

June 6

June 13