Postgraduate Course: Introduction to Mind, Language and Embodied Cognition (PHIL11037)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Philosophy |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
Please see Learn page |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course offers an integrated, critical review of philosophical and cognitive scientific approaches to understanding mind, language, and embodied cognition. It aims to give students a sense both of recent developments and of the large-scale intellectual landscape. A special focus is the increasingly popular conception of mind as essentially "embodied and embedded".
According to this conception, thought and reason are in some way inextricably tied to the details of our gross bodily form, our abilities of action and intervention, and the enabling web of social, cultural, and technological scaffolding in which we live, move, learn and think.
Taught by Dr Alistair Isaac.
Formative feedback available;
- opportunity to submit formative essay
- students can discuss essay plans with course organiser before the summative essay is due |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2014/15 Semester 1, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
|
Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
15/09/2014 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 21,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
173 )
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| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
| The course aims to develop student's philosophical skills and their knowledge of the main issues and debates surrounding mind, language and embodied cognition. The teaching is seminar based, and each week students prepare by reading set work. |
Assessment Information
One 2500 word essay.
Assignment deadline: Monday 15th December 2014 by 12 noon
Return deadline: Friday 16th January 2015 |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Week 1: Classic Computational Theory of Mind
Week 2: Language and Nativism
Week 3: Connectionism
Week 4: The Dynamical Challenge
Week 5: Introducing Embodiment
Week 6: Evidence for Embodiment: Mirror Neurons
Week 7: The Extended Mind
Week 8: The Extended Replicator
Week 9: Language as a Cognitive Tool
Week 10: Sensorimotor Theory of Consciousness
Week 11: The Bayesian Brain |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Background reading is particularly important if you are new to philosophy of cognitive science.
Clark, A. (2001). Mindware: An Introduction to Cognitive Science. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Clark, A. (2008). Supersizing the Mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Copeland, B. J. (1993). Artificial Intelligence: A Philosophical Introduction. Blackwell, Oxford.
Crane, T. (2003). The Mechanical Mind. Routledge, London, 2nd edition.
Freeman, W. J. (2000) How Brains Make Up Their Minds, Columbia UP, New York.
Haugeland, J., editor (1999). Mind Design II. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Kim, J. (2006). Philosophy of Mind. Westview Press, Cambridge, MA, 2nd edition.
Shapiro, L. (2011) Embodied Cognition. Routledge, London.
The weekly reading list for this course is available on Learn. |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Alistair Isaac
Tel: (0131 6)51 5174
Email: A.M.C.Isaac@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lynsey Buchanan
Tel: (0131 6)51 5002
Email: Lynsey.Buchanan@ed.ac.uk |
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