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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2017/2018

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences : Philosophy

Postgraduate Course: Advanced topics in Mind, Language and Embodied Cognition (PHIL11038)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course aims to provide an in depth treatment of a single topic or text, usually in the broad area of the study of the embodied mind.

The teaching is seminar based, and each week students prepare by reading and commenting on set work.
Course description This course examines conceptual and cognitive scientific issues arising from recent empirical work on the nature of conscious experience, perception and action. The topics include philosophical, psychological, neuroscientific, and computational perspectives on issues such as: What is perception, and how does perception relate to action? What is conscious experience and how does it arise in embodied agents? What is attention, and how does it relate to conscious experience? What are 'auditory voice hallucinations' and what can they tell us about consciousness? What is the role of prediction in the construction of perception, experience, emotion, and action?

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Students MUST NOT also be taking Perception and Action: From Inner Zombies to the Predictive Brain MSc (PHIL11126)
Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
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 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) One 2500 word essay (100%).

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.

No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. demonstrate philosophical skills, including evaluating arguments and articulating one's own critical ideas in response
  2. engage a single target or topic in the kind of sustained depth required for professional publication and research.
  3. discuss and interpret empirical work in the cognitive sciences in a philosophical manner
Reading List
A good starting point is to read some of the books from the list below. Background reading is particularly important if you are new to philosophy of cognitive science.

Clark, A. (2013). Mindware: An Introduction to Cognitive Science (2nd Edition) Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Clark, A. (1997) Being There. MIT Press, London.
Crane, T. (2003). The Mechanical Mind. Routledge, London, 2nd edition.
Bechtel, W. (2008) Mental Mechanisms. Taylor & Francis, London.
Freeman, W. J. (2000) How Brains Make Up Their Minds. Columbia UP, New York.
Churchland, P. M. (2012) Plato's Camera. MIT Press, London.

A full list of the course topics and readings can be found on Learn.
Additional Information
Course URL Please see Learn page
Graduate Attributes and Skills Students will learn to conduct research across disciplinary boundaries, and to present their ideas clearly to a multi-disciplinary audience.
Additional Class Delivery Information The course is taught by Dr Alistair Isaac and Prof Till Vierkant.
Keywordsperception,action,change-blindnes,sensorimotor contingency theory,dual visual systems hypothesis
Contacts
Course organiserProf Andrew Clark
Tel: (0131 6)50 3659
Email: Andy.Clark@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Becky Verdon
Tel: (0131 6)51 5002
Email: Rebecca.Verdon@ed.ac.uk
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