Human beings have minds, and probably so do many non-human animals. But things like rocks and rugs do not. Why are minds distributed throughout the world in this way? The course will explore different answers to this question. In the first block, we will ask whether the mind is its own substance, distinct from the physical world; and we will subsequently consider what kinds of configurations of physical substance might be correctly identified with the mind. In particular, we will ask whether the mind is most plausibly identified with physical, behavioral, or functional states. In the second block, we will first focus on questions of personal identity and its relation to the mind. Are you (just) your mind? What are the mind’s identity conditions? Then we will discuss knowledge of other minds, looking at both practical and theoretical approaches to this question. The final topic will be animal minds; discussion will center around animal consciousness and reasoning.

This course is an introduction to the philosophy of mind. You and I are conscious; we have experiences. In this respect among others we differ from such things as rocks, bicycles, planets, or waterfalls. But in some ways we are not so different from them. We have bodies composed of matter, subject to the laws of physics; the same is true even of our brains. What explains the fact that some of the things in the world have conscious experiences, while others do not? What is the nature of the mind and the self we often associate with it, and how do these connect up with our scientific picture of the universe? What is consciousness, anyway? How and to what extent do the perceptual experiences of a subject put her in touch with a mind-indepexndent world? In the process of considering these questions and others, we’ll work on developing skills in reading and writing philosophy.

This course is an introduction to the philosophy of mind. You and I are conscious; we have experiences. In this respect among others we differ from such things as rocks, bicycles, planets, or waterfalls. But in some ways we are not so different from them. We have bodies composed of matter, subject to the laws of physics; the same is true even of our brains. What explains the fact that some of the things in the world have conscious experiences, while others do not? What is the nature of the mind and the self we often associate with it, and how do these connect up with our scientific picture of the universe? What is consciousness, anyway? How and to what extent do the perceptual experiences of a subject put her in touch with a mind-independent world? In the process of considering these questions and others, we’ll work on developing skills in reading and writing philosophy.

The history of modern philosophy from Descartes through Kant.

In this course we will survey the works of philosophers writing during the Early Modern period of the 17 th  and 18 th  centuries. We will begin by studying the emergence of the so called “New Science” and its break from the “Old” scholastic Aristotelianism which had been the dominant philosophical school of thought throughout the Medieval period. Starting with the ‘rationalists’, we will read the pioneering works of Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz, before turning to the equally landmark ‘empiricist’ works of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. We will learn how each of these philosophers broke with tradition and answered the hotly debated philosophical questions of their day, including metaphysical questions such as: what are the fundamental building blocks or ‘substances’ that comprise our reality? How many ‘substances’ are there? What are the relations between these substances, bodies, minds, and God? And epistemological questions, such as: what sorts of truths can we know, and how is it possible for us to know them? What is the relation between knowledge derived through reason and our knowledge of the external world? To what extent, if any, can we trust our senses, or beliefs formed on the basis of experience? Finally, we will end the course with an introduction to Kant, who, responding to each of these authors, attempts to pave a new path forward for philosophy – critiquing the very possibility of metaphysics, while nevertheless aiming to salvage some of its principles, as well as empirical knowledge, from an array of skeptical worries introduced by his predecessors.

The history of modern philosophy from Descartes through Kant.

In this course we will study the philosophical views of the most important and influential thinkers in early modern philosophy (roughly, the 17th and 18th centuries). This period in western thought was nothing short of extraordinary in that it saw the overthrow of a philosophical and scientific worldview that had dominated the west for over one thousand years. Prior to the 17th century, philosophy had been a blend of church doctrine and classical philosophy, and its methodology had been quite narrowly defined. The unfortunate effect of both the church’s influence on scholarly endeavors and the strictly defined methodology was that philosophical and scientific creativity was largely stifled. By the 17th century, however, the medieval worldview was beginning to crumble due in large part to a variety of subversive scientific discoveries. Advances in physics, astronomy and chemistry undermined central assumptions of classical science, which resulted in the wholesale abandonment of medieval philosophy more generally. Thus the scientific revolution of the 17th century set off an explosion of inspiration and creativity in the world of philosophy. It forced thinkers to make a new start in answering fundamental questions about the world such as: What is the nature of mind? What are the limits of human knowledge? What is a person? What is the basic stuff in the world? These thinkers were the radicals of their day, and their views have shaped the way we practice contemporary philosophy. In fact, many of the philosophical questions we ask today could not have been formulated before these thinkers began to challenge philosophical orthodoxy. For that reason, studying the moderns is of central importance for understanding contemporary philosophy, and for understanding the nature of philosophical revolutions more generally.

The history of ancient philosophy with special emphasis on the Presocratics, Plato, and Aristotle.

This course will provide an introduction to Ancient Greek philosophy. We will focus especially on works of Plato and Aristotle, though we may also spend some time reading works of pre-Socratic philosophers, Epicureans, and Stoics. One reason to study Ancient Greek philosophy is that Ancient Greek philosophers thought deeply about questions that many of us still care about today. In the course, we will look at how Plato and Aristotle thought about some of these questions, which include, but are not limited to: • What does being a virtuous person involve? Is virtue something that people are born with, or do they acquire it? If virtue is something which is acquired, how is it acquired? • What is the nature of knowledge? For example, how, if at all, is knowing that “triangles have three sides” different from having a true belief that “triangles have three sides?” What does the process of learning something involve? • What does justice in a city require? What sorts of divisions of labor within a city are just? Another reason to study Ancient Greek philosophy is that these texts have had an enormous influence on the history of Western philosophy; familiarity with Ancient Greek philosophy can help us to better understand later philosophers. A final reason to study Ancient Greek philosophy is that, although the many of the questions occupying Ancient Greek philosophers still resonate today, there are aspects of their thought which are likely to strike us, at least initially, as foreign, and/or difficult to understand. By trying to work through these more challenging aspects of our thought, we strengthen our own capacities to engage charitably and critically with viewpoints that are different (sometimes profoundly different) from our own. Students can expect to read selections from early Platonic dialogues, from the Republic, and from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Politics. Reading knowledge of Greek is not required

The history of ancient philosophy with special emphasis on the Presocratics, Plato, and Aristotle.