I’ve scheduled our discussion of this for two classes, but I’d encourage you to read as much of it as you can for the first class. We certainly won’t discuss the final two sections (pp. 208-211) until Thurs., but try to be ready to discuss anything up to that point on Tues.
Haugeland’s discussion is somewhat different in character from other things we will read since it was written as an introduction to an anthology. The anthology included work on both artificial intelligence and its philosophical significance, and Haugeland’s introduction seems designed to provide background for that material. He wrote it at a time (30 years ago) when computers were less common than they are now, but, even then, people didn’t need to be told what a computer was—and that’s what Haugeland can sometimes seem to be doing. His aim, I think, is to provide a particular perspective on computers that can help in seeing the way the idea of artificial intelligence might be relevant to thinking about the mind. At any rate, that is how his introduction will serve us.
• Section I (pp. 195-197) provides the rationale for the discussion that follows, and you can expect that we will work through it fairly closely.
• Sections II-VII (pp. 197-208) are mainly descriptive, and there won’t be too much philosophy. Haugeland will, however, lay out quite a number of ideas that you will need to think through in order to get the most out of what he had to say when he returns to philosophy at the end. Our discussion of this part will be mainly an effort to sort out difficult ideas, so be sure to mark what seem like the more difficult places.
• Section VIII (pp. 208-210) is descriptive, too, but descriptive of some philosophical ideas that may play a role in giving the idea of “semantic engines” real substance.
• In the last section (pp. 210-211) Haugeland surveys a range of reasons why someone might doubt that artificial intelligence can provide a model of the mind, and you should think both what these reasons are and the strength you think they might have. Much of our class on Thursday is likely to be spent discussing them.