- Philosophy of Mind

Catalog description

This course addresses fundamental questions regarding the nature of the human mind and thought. Students will be introduced to the leading contemporary theories of mind as well as critical responses to these theories. They will become acquainted with the works of philosophers such as Gilbert Ryle, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Daniel Dennett, Patricia Churchland, Fred Dretske, Ruth Millikan, Hillary Putnam, and others. We will address questions such as whether we can know there are other minds, whether mental states are reducible to brain states, how our thoughts can be about anything at all, whether there is a "language of thought", what it means to view the mind as embodied or as extending into the world.