Philosophic Fictions

Catalog description

Consciousness-what it is, where it is, how it is-has been a perennial puzzle for philosophers. What does it mean to be conscious? We all know what it feels like to be conscious, but when asked to describe the state of consciousness, to conjure with words the contours of felt experience that is consciousness, we falter. This semester we will come at the puzzle from a different direction, from literature. We'll start with some classic philosophical statements of the puzzle and then turn our attention to some poems and some stories which engage with the problem of consciousness in a variety of ways. Writing in reaction to the literature and to the puzzle of consciousness will be the central tool of our semester's exploration.