PHIL 308: Metaphysics and Mind
Syllabus
Fall 2008
Ashley McDowell
Office: 202 Humphrey House
Office phone: 337-7077
email: mcdowell@kzoo.edu
Textbooks:
Course Description
This course is about philosophical issues in the areas of metaphysics and philosophy of mind, and at their intersection. Metaphysics is the study of the nature of reality, and philosophy of mind studies metaphysical issues having to do with minds. A philosophical study of these topics is one in which we give thoughtful reasons for positions on various issues. In this course, through lecture and discussion, you will learn about the views of prominent historical and contemporary philosophers on some key issues in metaphysics and mind.
In particular, we will focus on four main topics. The first issue is that of “identity” and “personal identity.” This involves questions of what makes an object, and in particular a person, “the same” over time. If we replace every plank on a ship gradually, is it the same ship at the end of the process? Every molecule in your body is replaced about every seven years – are you a new person after the last molecule goes? If not, what does make you the same person – your memories, personality, a causal link to the past, or what? The second issue we’ll discuss, the “mind/body problem,” involves questions about the nature of mind and its relation to body. Is the mind a nonphysical soul-like entity, or is the mind the brain, or is it the software that runs on the brain’s hardware, or is it something else? The next issue is really a subissue of the mind/body problem: the “problem” of consciousness. Can the qualitative part of our experience – the part involving what it feels like to be in various states – be captured in purely physical terms, or is it inescapably nonphysical? The final issue is that of free will. Does modern scientific knowledge entail that none of our actions is really free? What is it for an action to be free, anyway? What kinds of restrictions might there be on our freedom – for example, if time travel is possible, are we free to change the past?
In studying these issues we will be doing a variety of readings. Most of them will be academic philosophical articles, although some from The Mind’s I will stray into supporting material from literature and science fiction. The ideas and arguments in all of the readings will be deep and challenging. You should expect to do most readings more than once. As we will discuss, there will be important interconnections and dependency relations among the readings, so you must also keep up with the reading assignments.
The class will be a combination of lecture and discussion, and all students will be expected to contribute. In-class discussions will be conducted with respect and a mutual interest in solving these problems, so that all views will be open to thoughtful criticism. We will be approaching other views – and our own – with an open-minded but critical eye. The focus will be on providing and assessing arguments for positions, to try to come to the most thoughtful position possible on these questions. Students will be evaluated on how well you have learned the views and arguments of the authors studied, and how well you formulate original arguments for your own positions.
Class Format
This class will consist of a combination of lecture and discussion. I will spend time every day taking your questions about the reading and the previous class’s material, and we will then go over and talk about the current day’s material. I will generally assume that you have understood the material, unless you indicate otherwise. I welcome questions, as they are one of the only ways for me to know what is unclear to you.
You will be responsible for completing the readings before each class, and for being prepared to discuss those readings. Give yourself plenty of time to do these readings carefully – again, they can be quite difficult. I may give you occasional in-class or out-of-class assignments, which will rely upon sincere attempts to understand the readings. In addition, you will write short (one-page) essays weekly, and these will be graded largely on the basis of how much you have genuinely grappled with the course material.
I expect regular attendance in this class. Although attendance makes up no official percentage of your grade, missing class will negatively affect it. Repeatedly missing class may result in a substantial lowering of your grade for the course.
There will be two avenues for further discussion of class materials: office hours and weekly lunches. Office hours are held for purposes such as discussing course materials, helping you understand readings, working on philosophical skills, and going over drafts of assignments. Please take full advantage of them. Additionally, I will be in The Daily Grind for a “Metaphysics and Mind” coffee hour every Thursday morning from 9 to 10. This weekly coffee hour is for us to informally discuss ideas brought up in class, perhaps in more depth than we can manage during class hours. Please feel free to drop by – caffeinate and philosophize yourself.
Tentative Schedule:
(this is the schedule from a former offering of the course. It should change, but not very significantly)
This schedule is tentative. Any changes will be announced in class and by email, and most likely on the website as well. The reading assignments listed for each day must be completed before that class. Readings are found in your textbooks as indicated, or will be made available by handout or on the Internet.
WEEK ONE
M 3/29 Introduction to Class, Metaphysics, and Philosophy of Mind
PART ONE:
IDENTITY AND PERSONAL IDENTITY
W 3/31 Dennett, “Where Am I?” and Hawley, “Where Was I?” (TMI 13 & 14)
F 4/2 Borges, “Borges and I” (TMI 1) and Chisholm, “Identity Through Time” (MTBQ 19)
WEEK TWO
M 4/5 Locke, “Of Identity and Diversity” (TPM 29)
W 4/7 Parfit, Selections from Reasons and Persons (TPM 31), and Quine, “Identity” (MTBQ 21)
F 4/9 Lewis, “In Defense of Stages,” Geach, “Some Problems about Time,” and Lewis, “The Problem of Temporary Intrinsics” (MTBQ 22, 23, and 24)
WEEK THREE
M 4/12 Dennett, “Why Everyone Is a Novelist” (TPM 33)
W 4/14 Lem, “The Princess Ineffabelle” (TMI 6) and Shoemaker, “Self and Substance” (TPM 34)
PART TWO:
THE MIND/BODY PROBLEM
F 4/16 Descartes, from Meditations (TPM 1), and introduction and postscript to Ryle, “Descartes’ Myth” (TPM 2)
WEEK FOUR
M 4/19 Elizabeth of Bohemia, from correspondence with Descartes (handout), and Smullyan, “An Unfortunate Dualist” (TMI 23)
W 4/21 Place, “Is Consciousness a Brain Process?” and Smart, “Sensations and Brain Processes” (TPM 5 and 6)
F 4/23 no class – Dr. McDowell out of town – but read Cooney, “Brain Events” (TPM 4)
WEEK FIVE
M 4/26 Rorty, “Mind-Body Identity, Privacy, and Categories” (TPM 8)
W 4/28 P.M. Churchland, “Eliminative Materialism” (TPM 9)
F 4/30 Armstrong, “The Nature of Mind” and Fodor, “Materialism” (TPM 10 and 11)
WEEK SIX
M 5/3 Hofstadter, “Prelude…Ant Fugue” (TMI 11)
W 5/5 Searle, “Minds, Brains, and Programs (TMI 22)
PART THREE:
THE PROBLEM OF CONSCIOUSNESS
F 5/7 Nagel, “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” (TPM 22; also read reflections in TMI) and Jackson, “Epiphenomenal Qualia” (TPM 24)
WEEK SEVEN
M 5/10 P.S. Churchland and P.M. Churchland, “Functionalism, Qualia, and Intentionality” (TPM 25)
W 5/12 McGinn, “Can We Solve the Mind-Body Problem?” (TPM 26)
F 5/14 Chalmers, “Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness” (TPM 27)
WEEK EIGHT
M 5/17 Loar, “Phenomenal States” (TPM 28)
W 5/19 (Day of Gracious Living? If not, adjust schedule accordingly)
PART FOUR:
FREE WILL AND DETERMINISM
F 5/21 Lewis, “The Paradoxes of Time Travel” (MTBQ 17) and Prior, “The Notion of the Present” (MTBQ 7)
WEEK NINE
M 5/24 Dawkins, “Selfish Genes and Selfish Memes” (TMI 10)
W 5/26 Hobart, “Free Will as Involving Determination and Inconceivable without It” (MTBQ 39)
F 5/28 Chisholm, “Human Freedom and the Self” (MTBQ 40)
WEEK TEN
W 6/2 van Inwagen, “The Mystery of Metaphysical Freedom” (MTBQ 41)
F 6/4 O’Connor, “The Agent as Cause” (MTBQ 42)