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Minds and Machines >> Content Detail



Study Materials



Readings

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This section features the two required textbooks and a detailed listing of readings by session. Links to recommended reading are also provided for some sessions.



Textbooks


Amazon logo Chalmers, David, ed. Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780195145816.

Amazon logo Searle, John R. Mind: A Brief Introduction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780195157345.



Readings by Session



SES #TOPICSREADINGS AND LINKS
1Introduction and warm-up: Searle against artificial intelligence (AI)

Amazon logo Searle, John R. "Can Computers Think?" Chapter 63 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings. Originally Chapter 2 in Minds, Brains and Science (1984 Reith Lectures). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986. ISBN: 9780674576339.

Amazon logo Block, Ned. "Searle's Chinese Room Argument." Section 4 in "The Mind as the Software of the Brain." Chapter 11 in An Invitation to Cognitive Science. 2nd ed. Vol. 3. Edited by Daniel N. Osherson and Edward E. Smith. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780262650434. A version of "The Mind as the Software of the Brain" is also available.



Some background


Pinker, Steven. "The Mystery of Consciousness." TIME, January 19, 2007.

MacFarquhar, Larissa. "Two Heads: A Marriage Devoted to the Mind-body Problem." The New Yorker, February 12, 2007, pp. 58-69.



Useful links


Turing, A. M. "Computing Machinery and Intelligence." Mind 59 (1950): 433-460.

Holt, Jim. "Code-breaker: The Life and Death of Alan Turing." The New Yorker, February 6, 2006.

The Alan Turing home page

The Turing test page

Talk to ELIZA

MIT's Cog

MIT's Cognitive Machines group at the Media Lab

2Searle (cont.)

Amazon logo Searle, John R. "Can Computers Think?" Chapter 2 in Minds, Brains and Science (1984 Reith Lectures). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986. ISBN: 9780674576339.

Amazon logo Block, Ned. "Searle's Chinese Room Argument." Section 4 in "The Mind as the Software of the Brain." Chapter 11 in An Invitation to Cognitive Science. 2nd ed. Vol. 3. Edited by Daniel N. Osherson and Edward E. Smith. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780262650434. A version of "The Mind as the Software of the Brain" is also available.

Searle, John. R. "Minds, Brains, and Programs." Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3, no. 3 (1980): 417-457.

———. Mind: A Brief Introduction. pp. 62-64 and 69-71.



Optional


Searle, John R. "Is the Brain a Digital Computer?" Presidential Address. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Association, 1990.

Amazon logo Byrne, Alex. "Intentionality." In The Philosophy of Science: An Encylopedia. Edited by Sahorta Sarkar and Jessica Pfeifer. New York, NY: Routledge, 2006. ISBN: 9780415977098.

3Searle (cont.)

Amazon logo Descartes, René. Meditations II and VI in Meditations on First Philosophy. Translated and edited by John Cottingham. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1985. ISBN: 9780521338578. The e-text is available: Meditations on First Philosophy, translated by John Veitch (1901).

Amazon logo ———. "The Passions of the Soul." Chapter 2 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings. Also in The Philosophical Writings of Descartes. Vol. 1. Translated by John Cottingham, Robert Stoothoff, and Dugald Murdoch. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1985. ISBN: 9780521288071. Read parts 17-19 and 30-36 of Part One: The Passions in General.

Amazon logo Smullyan, Raymond M. "An Unfortunate Dualist." Chapter 4 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings. Originally in This Book Needs No Title: A Budget of Little Paradoxes. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980, pp. 53-55. ISBN: 9780139190353.

Amazon logo Ryle, Gilbert. "Descartes' Myth." Chapter 5 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings. Also as Chapter 1 in The Concept of Mind [1949]. New ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780226732961. (We won't discuss the Ryle reading until next week, but you need to read it for the problem set.)

Searle, John R. Mind: A Brief Introduction. Chapter 1.



Useful links


Descartes's life and works (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Dualism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

4-5Dualism

Amazon logo Descartes, René. Meditations II and VI in Meditations on First Philosophy. Translated and edited by John Cottingham. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1985. ISBN: 9780521338578. The e-text is available: Meditations on First Philosophy, translated by John Veitch (1901).

Amazon logo ———. Passions of the Soul: An English Translation. Translated by Stephen Voss. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, 1989. ISBN: 9780872200357.

Amazon logo Smullyan, Raymond M. "An Unfortunate Dualist." Chapter 4 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings. Originally in This Book Needs No Title: A Budget of Little Paradoxes. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980, pp. 53-55. ISBN: 9780139190353.

Amazon logo Ryle, Gilbert. "Descartes' Myth." Chapter 5 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings. Also as Chapter 1 in The Concept of Mind [1949]. New ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780226732961.

6Behaviorism

Amazon logo Ryle, Gilbert. "Descartes' Myth." Chapter 5 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings. Also as Chapter 1 in The Concept of Mind [1949]. New ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780226732961.



Optional


Amazon logo Byrne, Alex. "Behaviorism." In A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind. Edited by S. D. Guttenplan. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1996. ISBN: 9780631199960.

Behaviorism. (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)



Useful links


Stardate 42523.7

Gilbert Ryle (Wikipedia; n.b. Wikipedia articles on philosophy should be treated with extreme caution)

7

Behaviorism (cont.)

The identity theory

Place, U. T. "Is Consciousness a Brain Process?" Chapter 8 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.

Smart, J. J. C. "Sensations and Brain Processes." Chapter 9 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.

Searle, John R. Mind: A Brief Introduction. Chapter 2.

And don't miss U. T. Place's brain.

8The identity theory (cont.)

Place, U. T. "Is Consciousness a Brain Process?" Chapter 8 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.

Smart, J. J. C. "Sensations and Brain Processes." Chapter 9 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.

Amazon logo Kripke, Saul A. Naming and Necessity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006, pp. 41-46. ISBN: 9780674598461.

Searle, John R. Mind: A Brief Introduction. Chapter 3.



Optional


Feigl, Herbert. "The 'Mental' and the 'Physical'." Chapter 10 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.

9The identity theory (cont.)Concentrate on: Kripke, Saul A. Naming and Necessity.
10Functionalism

Armstrong, David M. "The Causal Theory of the Mind." Chapter 12 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.

Putnam, Hilary. "The Nature of Mental States." Chapter 11 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.

Searle, John R. Mind: A Brief Introduction. Chapter 4.



Optional


Amazon logo Block, Ned. "The Mind as the Software of the Brain." Chapter 11 in An Invitation to Cognitive Science. 2nd ed. Vol. 3. Edited by Daniel N. Osherson and Edward E. Smith. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780262650434. A version of "The Mind as the Software of the Brain" is also available.



Useful links


Block, Ned. Functionalism.

O'Grady, Jane. "David Lewis." Obituary in The Guardian, October 23, 2001.

Turing, A. M. "Computing Machinery and Intelligence." Mind 59 (1950): 433-460.

11Functionalism (cont.)Block, Ned. "Troubles with Functionalism." Chapter 14 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.
12Functionalism (cont.)

Amazon logo Lewis, David. "Mad Pain and Martian Pain." In Readings in Philosophy of Psychology. Vol. 1. Edited by Ned Block. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006, pp. 216-222. ISBN: 9780674748767.



Optional


Lewis, David. "Psychophysical and Theoretical Identifications." Chapter 13 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.

13

Functionalism (cont.)

Intentionality and externalism

We'll finish up our discussion of Lewis, and then start on "externalism," our next topic.

Putnam, Hilary. "The Meaning of 'Meaning'." Chapter 54 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.

14Intentionality and externalism (cont.)

Putnam, Hilary. "The Meaning of 'Meaning'." Chapter 54 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.

Searle, John R. Mind: A Brief Introduction. Chapter 6.



Optional


Brentano, Franz. "The Distinction between Mental and Physical Phenomena." Chapter 44 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.

Amazon logo Byrne, Alex. "Intentionality." In The Philosophy of Science: An Encylopedia. Edited by Sahorta Sarkar and Jessica Pfeifer. New York, NY: Routledge, 2006. ISBN: 9780415977098.

15Externalism (cont.)

Burge, Tyler. "Individualism and the Mental." Chapter 55 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.

Clark, Andy, and David J. Chalmers. "The Extended Mind." Chapter 59 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.

16Externalism and self-knowledge

McKinsey, Michael. "Anti-Individualism and Privileged Access." Analysis 51 (1991): 9-16.

Brueckner, A. "What an Anti-Individualist Knows A Priori." Analysis 52 (1992): 111-118.

17Nagel on batsNagel, Thomas. "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?" Chapter 25 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.
18Jackson's knowledge argument

Jackson, Frank. "Epiphenomenal Qualia." Chapter 28 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings. A version of "Epiphenomenal Qualia" is also available.

Lewis, David. "What Experience Teaches." Chapter 29 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.



Optional


Amazon logo Dennett, Daniel. "What RoboMary Knows." In Phenomenal Concepts and Phenomenal Knowledge: New Essays on Consciousness and Physicalism. Edited by Torin Alter and Sven Walter. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780195171655. A version of "What RoboMary Knows" is also available.

19

Jackson's knowledge argument (cont.)

Chalmers' dualism

Chalmers, David J. "Consciousness and Its Place in Nature." Chapter 27 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.
20-21Chalmers' dualism (cont.)
22PanprotopsychismStoljar, Daniel. "Two Conceptions of the Physical." Chapter 31 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.
23Panprotopsychism (cont.)McGinn, C. "Can we Solve the Mind-body Problem?" Mind 98, no. 391 (1989): 349-366.
24Mysterianism
25Consciousness and intentionalityTye, Michael. "Visual Qualia and Visual Content Revisited." Chapter 42 in Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings.
26Conclusion: Final lecture(no readings)

 








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