Postgraduate Course: Metaphysics of Mind MSc (PHIL11066)
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) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course focuses on the two mind-body problems. The first concerns mental causation. We tend to behave in such a way that our desires are fulfilled if our beliefs are true. But how can mental states cause our body to move? The second part concerns consciousness. If our best physical sciences are right, then our world is entirely composed of physical objects and properties. But how do we place consciousness in such a world?
Shared with the undergraduate version of the course PHIL10077 Metaphysics of Mind
For courses co-taught with undergraduate students and with no remaining undergraduate spaces left, a maximum of 8 MSc students can join the course. Priority will be given to MSc students who wish to take the course for credit on a first come first served basis after matriculation.
**The first MSc student-only tutorial will take place in Room 1.01 Dugald Stewart Building on Tuesday 11th October, 12.10 - 1.00pm. Tutorials thereafter will take place on Fridays same time and venue from Friday 21st October.
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| Course description |
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Substance Dualism
Week 3: The Causal Pairing Problem
Week 4: The Mind-Body Identity Theory
Week 5: Varieties of Functionalism
Week 6: Physicalism I: Defining the View
Week 7: Physicalism II: Reduction and the A Priori
Week 8: The Causal Exclusion Argument
Week 9: Kripke's Argument against the Identity Theory
Week 10: Chalmers' Zombie Argument
Week 11: Jackson's Knowledge Argument
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2016/17, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 8 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
One 2,500 word essay
Assessment deadline: Monday 19th December 2016 by 12 noon
Word limit: 2500 words maximum (excluding references)
Return deadline: Friday 20th January 2017 |
| Feedback |
- Students have the opportunity to submit a formative essay by week 6 deadline on Turnitin via Learn. The essay cannot be draft of summative essay but it can be on the same topic.
Deadline: Thursday 27th October 2016 by 12 noon
Return deadline: Friday 18th November 2016 |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- understand competing major contemporary theories of the nature of the mental and its relationship with the physical world
- critically assess various conceivability arguments against physicalism such as the knowledge argument
- critically assess the problems of mental causation for substance dualism and property dualism
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Reading List
Recommended textbooks include Danial Stoljar's Physicalism, Routledge 2010 [P], Tom Crane¿s Elements of Mind, Oxford University Press, 2001 [EOM], and Jaegwon Kim's Philosophy of Mind, Westview Press, 2006 [POM].
Several of the class readings will be taken from Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Mind, edited by Brian McLaughlin and Jonathan Cohen, Blackwells, 2007 [CDPM].
We will also make extensive use of the Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mind, edited by Ansgar Beckermann, Brian P. McLaughlin and Sven Walter, Oxford University Press 2009 [OHPM].
Full reading list available on Learn
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Additional Information
| Course URL |
Please see Learn page |
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
(i) Presentation and writing skills
(ii) Analytical and critical skills
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| Additional Class Delivery Information |
The course is taught by Prof Jesper Kallestrup.
**The first MSc student-only tutorial will take place in Room 1.01 Dugald Stewart Building on Tuesday 11th October, 12.10 - 1.00pm. Tutorials thereafter will take place on Fridays same time and venue from Friday 21st October. |
| Keywords | Philosophy of mind,metaphysics |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jesper Kallestrup
Tel:
Email: jesper.kallestrup@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lynsey Buchanan
Tel: (0131 6)51 5002
Email: Lynsey.Buchanan@ed.ac.uk |
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