Syntax, semantics, and proof theory of sentential and predicate logic.

Syntax, semantics, and proof theory of sentential and predicate logic.

Syntax, semantics, and proof theory of sentential and predicate logic.

This course will explore cognitive and affective components of happiness, including pleasure, meaning, and well-being, as well as associated patterns of neural activity. Included will be a discussion of the neuropsychological basis of negative emotions, such as sadness, fear, and anger, as well as an overview of the particular types of negative thought patterns associated with various psychological disorders, including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and PTSD, and their neurological underpinnings. We will then turn to an evaluation of research findings from the new field of self-directed neuroplasticity. This will include a discussion of various evidence-based psychotherapeutic techniques for releasing and transforming negative thoughts and cultivating positive ones, including mindfulness, gratitude, and other cognitive-behavioral techniques, such as behavioral activation and reappraisal. We will examine how those techniques may affect perception, attention, judgment, and memory and change neurological structure and function in the short run and in the long run. Comparisons will be made to brain stimulation techniques used to treat psychological disorders, as well as effects of psychoactive drugs, both prescription and recreational, along with where psychedelic therapy might fit in. Lastly, we will look briefly at recent developments involving use of neuroimaging data to predict which types of psychotherapeutic techniques may be most effective for a particular individual.

Do you have a self or are you one? How is the self related to brain structure and function? Is the self, for example, identical to some part of the brain or part of the brain’s function? Can you damage the self by damaging the brain? In this course we will look at these questions from conceptual, psychological, and neuroscientific perspectives. We will study both normal and injured brains to help shed light on what is a deeply philosophical and personal issue: What is the human the self. We will read various papers pertaining to these issues as well as the books listed under required reading.

The history of modern philosophy from Descartes through Kant.

This is a survey course of Western philosophy from the 17th to 18th century. The course includes readings by several influential philosophers, including Descartes, Conway, Leibniz, Locke, Hume, and Kant. We will discuss topics such as the nature of mind and body, freedom of will, acquisition of knowledge, and the existence of God.

Mind and matter; other minds; the concept "person."

Perhaps the most astonishing thing about the universe is that it contains 3-pound packets of material–human brains–that can think, feel, choose to act, and consciously experience the world. What explains this? What are minds, thoughts, and perceptions, and what must the world be like for them to exist? Do mental phenomena reduce to physical phenomena or must there be something else? In this course we will begin with the mind-body problem and the various theories that address it. We will then cover topics such as artificial consciousness, personal identity, the mental states of animals, qualia, free will, and whether and to what extent we can have a science of the conscious mind.

Throughout this course we will draw upon theoretical and experimental research articles to study a variety of important topics in the slurs and stereotypes literature including the brain and cognitive components involved in processing slurs and stereotypes, the relationship between the content of slurs and stereotypical attributes of their targets, the semantics and pragmatics of slurs (their literal meaning and use in context), classical and prototype theories of concepts, negative and positive stereotypes, derogatory and non-derogatory uses of slurs, contextual factors that influence the interpretation of slurs, social communication of power and status, and slur reclamation or appropriation. This course will also introduce students to several important research methods for studying slurs and stereotypes including philosophical methods, experimental methods, corpus-based methods, and computational methods.