Postgraduate Course: Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science (Online) (PHIL11130)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course is aimed at offering an overview of a selection of core topics in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science, such as psychological explanation, the nature of conscious experience, the
place of mental states in the causal structure of the world, and the commitments of folk psychology.
Formative feedback available:
- students can submit a formative essay by the week 6 closing deadline. |
| Course description |
Provisional syllabus for 14/15:
Week 1: Introduction and functionalism - Synchronous seminar
Week 2: Non-reductive materialism - Synchronous seminar
Week 3: Eliminative materialism - Asynchronous forum seminar
Week 4: Mechanistic explanation - Synchronous seminar
Week 5: The language of thought hypothesis - Asynchronous forum seminar
Week 6: Tacit theories - Synchronous seminar
Week 7: The extended mind - Asynchronous forum seminar
Week 8: The modular mind - Synchronous seminar
Week 9: The embodied mind - Asynchronous forum seminar
Week 10: Against the computational mind - Synchronous seminar
Week 11: Review - Asynchronous forum seminar
This may be subject to change; the final syllabus will be posted on Learn when the course commences in September.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2014/15, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
| Course Start Date |
15/09/2014 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Online Activities 20,
Revision Session Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
164 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
85 %,
Practical Exam
15 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Students will be assessed by a 2500 word essay at the end of the semester (85%) and successful participation in the on-line activities associated with the course (15%).
Essay deadline: Monday 15th December 2014 by 12 noon
Word limit: 2500 words maximum
Return deadline: Monday 19th January 2015 |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
| Students will gain knowledge of some of the key issues in contemporary philosophy of mind and cognitive science. They will also develop their skills in critical thinking and in the oral and written presentation of philosophical arguments.
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Reading List
WEEK 1:
Class Readings
D.C. Dennett 'Personal and sub-personal levels of explanation.' reprinted in J. Bermudez (Ed) Philosophy of Psychology: contemporary readings (Routledge 2006). Available as an Ebook.
WEEK 2:
Class Readings
L. Anthony (2007) Everybody has got it: a defence of non-reductive materialism. In B. McLaughlin & J. Cohen (Eds.) Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Mind. (160 - 181) Blackwells.
WEEK 3:
Class Readings
Paul Churchland, (1981) Eliminative materialism and the propositional attitudes. Journal of Philosophy, 78, 67 - 90
WEEK 4:
Class Readings
P. Machamer, L. Darden & C. Craver 'Thinking about mechanisms.' Philosophy of Science, 67 (2000), 1-25.
WEEK 5:
Class Readings
Fodor, J. (1987). Mental Representation: an introduction. In N. Rescher, Scientific Enquiry in Philosophical Perspective (pp. 105 - 128). University Press of America.
Fodor, J. (1987). Psychosemantics. (Appendix). MIT Press
WEEK 6:
Class Readings
Fodor, J. (1968) The appeal to tacit knowledge in psychological explanation. The Journal of Philosophy, 65 627 - 640.
Stich, S. (1978). Beliefs and subdoxastic states. Philosophy of Science, 45, 499 - 518
WEEK 7:
Class Readings
A. Clark & D. Chalmers (1998) The Extended Mind. Analysis 58 . 10-23:
Mark Sprevak (2009) 'Extended Cognition and Functionalism.' Journal of Philosophy 106. 503-27
WEEK 8:
Class Readings
Carruthers, P. (2004). The mind is a system of modules shaped by natural selection. In C. Hitchcock (Ed.), Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Science (pp. 293 - 311). Blackwell.
Cowie, F., & Woodward, J. (2004). The mind is not (just) a system of modules shaped (just) by natural selection. In C. Hitchcock (Ed.), Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Science (pp. 312 - 334). Blackwell.
WEEK 9:
Class Readings
Shapiro, L. (2011) Embodied Cognition. (Chapters 2 & 3) Routledge.
WEEK 10
Class Readings
Van Gelder, T. (1995) What might cognition be if not computation? Journal of Philosophy 92, 345-81
Grush, R. (2003) In Defence of Some Cartesian Assumptions Concerning the Brain and its Operations Biology and Philosophy 18, 53 - 93
The full reading list available for the course list can be found on Learn.
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Additional Information
| Course URL |
Please see Learn page |
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
This course is only for MSc/Dip/Cert Epistemology, Ethics and Mind students.
The course is taught by Dr Suilin Lavelle |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Suilin Lavelle
Tel: (0131 6)50 3665
Email: J.S.Lavelle@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lynsey Buchanan
Tel: (0131 6)51 5002
Email: Lynsey.Buchanan@ed.ac.uk |
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