Instructor: Dan Mittag
Eastman Office: ET 606
River Campus Office: Lattimore 534
Telephone: 275-4387 (office on river campus)
Email: dlmt@mail.rochester.edu.
Course Webpage: http://mail.rochester.edu/~dlmt/courses/philmind.html
Office Hours: Tuesdays from 12:00-1:30, and by appointment
** Please note that office hours will be held at Java's.
| Course
Description | Texts | Objectives
| Policies | Resources | Requirements | Schedule
|
This course will be an introduction to the
philosophy of mind. Throughout, we
will be focused on some basic questions about the nature of minds and mental
states. For example, are mental
states non-physical or physical in nature? Is the mind just something that plays a certain functional
role in a system such that anything
that plays that exact same role in a system is a mind? Are mental states just identical to
certain kinds of brain states? Is
it even possible for a purely
physical object to be conscious?
Are mental states nothing more than certain dispositions to behave in
certain ways? Could a
sophisticated-enough computer be conscious? How can a mental state come to represent (or be about)
something in the world? We will
approach such questions by considering arguments for and against various
theories in the philosophy of mind, including dualism, materialism,
behaviorism, and functionalism.
All assignments must be finished and turned in on time. Late assignments will be marked down
1/3 of a grade for each day (not class session) that they are late. If you do
have to turn in something late, it is your responsibility to make sure that I have it in hand so that your grade
will not continue to drop.
Attendance: It is
imperative that you come to class regularly and that you come to class
prepared. This is the only way to
be actively engaged with the material.
As a result, I do require that you come to class, and I will be keeping
track of who is missing each day.
You will be allowed two absences (regardless of reason) without
incurring a penalty. The third
absence will result in your loosing the benefit of the doubt. Four
absences will result in your grade being lowered by one-half of a letter
grade. Five absences will result in your grade being lowered by
a full letter grade, and each
additional absence will result in your grade being lowered by an additional
full letter grade. Put simply, it
is in your interest not to miss
class. The only exceptions to this
policy are for official Eastman School of Music excused absences. These require appropriate
documentation, and you will be responsible for making sure I receive that
documentation in a timely manner.
Participation:
Participation will be a significant part of this course. Good participation involves much more
than just saying something in class.
It involves giving reasons for your opinions or reasoned answers to
questions, raising thoughtful (and relevant) issues, asking questions about
things you don’t understand, explaining difficult points, arguments, or
theories, and exploring the issues of the class in more depth than a
superficial reading of the material will allow. (Remember: this class is to be active!) In
order to do all of this, you must have read the assigned material and spent
some time sorting through and trying to better understand it before coming to
class. The reading is difficult,
and you will need to read most everything twice in order to understand it
adequately.
Plagiarism: When
you use another person's work or idea you must properly document that you have done so. Lack of documentation and improper
documentation are forms of plagiarism, and no form of plagiarism will be
tolerated in this class. If you are caught plagiarizing on an assignment in
this class you automatically will fail that assignment. Repeated instances, or excessive forms,
of plagiarism will result in automatic failure of the course and official,
university disciplinary action.
Please Note: This
does not mean that you cannot
discuss the issues of the course or the assignments for the course with other
students. Often, this is exactly
what you should do, as it can be the source of much good philosophy. If you do get together to discuss work
that is to be graded, however, you must document that you have done so,
including the names of the other students involved. Still, your work should be your own (i.e., you should write it in your own words); it is just that it can be helpful to talk about
your ideas (or your understanding of a theory or argument) before turning in
the finished version of your paper.
Short
Paper Assignments:
(01-28-03) I have placed a few sample short papers on
the web as PDF documents. Please
take a look at these before you write your next paper, as these are papers that
not only are appropriate for this assignment, but also are well-organized,
critical, and generally careful.
These qualities are all virtues of philosophical writing.
Guidelines on Writing
a Philosophy Paper:
This is mandatory reading prior to turning in
your first assignment.
Philosophical writing is something that very few, if any of you have
done before. The focus of such
writing is on argumentation, and it should be clear, careful, and critical. Understanding both what this writing is
like and what producing such writing involves will help you produce it for this
course. This specific link is to
notes written by Professor Jim Pryor, a philosopher currently teaching at
Princeton.
The Oxford Companion to Philosophy:
This is a fully searchable “companion” to
philosophy. Contains brief
explanations of philosophical terms and theories, as well as discussions of the
work of influential philosophers. This
is an excellent on-line resource.
Use it.
Directions for use: At the top of the page, use the
scroll-down menu to choose “Philosophy”, then type in the term for which you
are looking.
Dictionary of
Philosophy of Mind:
Contains brief definitions of key terms in the
philosophy of mind and also contains some longer discussions of certain
issues. This can really help you
wrap your mind around the issues and theories we will discuss. Helpful.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
This encyclopedia is a work in progress, but what is
there is excellent. Entries
contain explanations of relevant issues, discussions of influential and current
work on the specific topic, important arguments, and very good
bibliographies. Highly recommended
if you want to delve more deeply into any of the topics we discuss (or if you
just want to satisfy your own intellectual curiosity).
The schedule of readings is available
at: http://mail.rochester.edu/~dlmt/courses/philmind/schedule.html. You may also link to it from the link
provided at the top of the page.