phi10901F15syll

Phi 109-01—Perspectives on Philosophy: Minds, Bodies, and Machines
Fall 2015—Glen Helman

Instructor: Glen Helman, Assoc. Prof. of Philosophy and Acting Chair

Office: Center 311, (765) 361-6334

My posted hours currently are 2:30-3:30 on T and 3:10-4:10 on F (but this can change). I usually arrive on campus between 9 and 10 and leave between 5 and 6, and you stand a good chance of finding me in my office whenever I am not teaching. My other classes meet at 11 MWF and 1:10 TTh. (While I am in my office most noon hours, the noon hour is also a common time for meetings and other events, as is the afternoon after 4.)

Home: 314 W. Wabash Ave., (765) 362-0428

This is your best bet evenings and weekends, but try my office too.

Cell phone: (765) 366-0791

Texts

In the bookstore:

David Rosenthal, Materialism and the Mind-Body Problem, 2nd ed. (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2000).

Rocco Gennaro, Mind And Brain: A Dialogue on the Mind-Body Problem (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1996).

On the web:

David Chalmers, “The Puzzle of Conscious Experience,” Scientific American Special Edition, vol. 12, issue 1 (Aug. 2002), pp. 90-100—on the author’s site at http://consc.net/papers/puzzle.pdf and on EBSCO at AN 10684238

A. M. Turing, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” Mind, n.s. vol. 59 (1950), pp. 433-460—on JSTOR at 2251299

Handouts (will also be available on the website and Canvas):

Selections from Aristotle’s De Anima (handout)

Selections from Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature, bk. I, pt. IV, §§2, 5, 6 (handout)

Selections from Plato’s Phaedo (handout)

Grading

Requirements:

Writing:

Two graded papers,

(1)a short paper of 600-900 words (due 9/18)

on a topic arising from the texts you read (I will assign the general form of the paper and the type of topic, but the specific topic will be your choice),

(2)a longer paper of 1500-1800 words (due 10/9)

developing your own views on a topic related to what you have read, and

(3)three ungraded writing assignments of 200-400 words (due 9/4, 9/11, 9/25)

interspersed among the papers.

Participation:

Regular, prepared, and active

(4)participation in class discussion

and timely completion of graded assignments.

Your final grade will be based on these in the following way: 20% and 45%, respectively, for the graded papers, 5% each for the timely and serious completion of ungraded writing assignments, and 20% for participation in discussion and other aspects of class participation. (When you receive credit for an ungraded assignment, its portion of your final grade will be figured using your highest grade for other aspects of the course, so completion of the ungraded assignments will alter the proportions above in a way that could raise but cannot lower your grade.)

Attendance and due dates:

As part of my evaluation of your participation, I will be keeping a record of your attendance. You will be automatically excused if you notify me in advance that you will miss a class (e-mail or voice-mail messages are fine). After the fact, I will expect you to have a good reason. Due dates for the papers are subject to negotiation. I set a default due date for the class, but I am willing to set individual due dates (within reason) for those who find that inconvenient. My policy on missed deadlines is similar to that on missed classes: I’ll re-negotiate the deadline (again within reason) if I hear in advance; but after the fact, I’ll expect an excuse. Unexcused missed deadlines will have an effect on your participation grade.

Calendar

Calendar. The assignments below are approximate and tentative. Sometimes a reading-guide handout will specify the details of an assignment, and it may include passages that are part of your assignment. Boxed dates are default due dates for papers (and are links to paper assignments when bold).

8/28		introduction
8/31	Plato	Phaedo, selections (handout)
9/2		———, selections (handout)
9/4	Aristotle	De Anima, selections (handout)
9/7	Descartes	sels. from Discourse on Method, pt. 5, and letters (Rosenthal, pp. 19-25)
9/9		Meditations, VI, sels. (Rosenthal, pp. 25-30)
9/11	Hobbes	selections from Leviathan and De Corpore (Rosenthal, pp. 43-52)
9/14	Hume	Treatise, bk. I, pt. IV (sels. through 1.4.6.6) (handout)
9/16		——— (sels. from 1.4.6.7) (handout)
9/18		Gennaro, Mind And Brain, 1st night (Gennaro, pp. 1-21)
9/21		———, 2nd night (Gennaro, pp. 22-45)
9/23		———, 3rd night (Gennaro, pp. 46-67)
9/25	Smart	“Sensations and Brain Processes” (Rosenthal, pp. 53-59)
9/28		——— (Rosenthal, pp. 59-66)
9/30	Shaffer & Cornman	Shaffer, “Mental Events and the Brain” and Cornman, “The Identity of Mind and Body” (Rosenthal, pp. 67-79)
10/2	Turing	“Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” §§1-5, 6(6), 7 (on line, pp. 432-442, 450-451, 454-460)
10/5	Putnam	“The Nature of Mental States” (Rosenthal, pp. 150-156)
10/7		——— (Rosenthal, pp. 156-161)
10/9	Jackson	“Epiphenomenal Qualia” and “Postscript on Qualia” (Rosenthal, pp. 249-259, 279-281
10/12	Chalmers	“The Puzzle of Conscious Experience” (on line, pp. 90-96, col. 1)
10/14		——— (on line, pp. 96-100)