PH 308                                    MINDS AND MACHINES                              Fall 2006

 

Instructor: Dr Duncan Richter

Time: TR 1315-1430

Room: Carroll Hall 210

Phone: 464-7735 (office) 463-2421 (home)

Web site: http://academics.vmi.edu/psy_dr/

Office hours: By appointment or luck (I'm generally in my office between 8.45 (or earlier) and 2.45 (often later), but various extra-curricular commitments make it impossible to guarantee regular office hours)

 

Goals of the course

 

Although it has no prerequisites, this course is intended primarily for students who have taken at least one philosophy course before.  The course will survey the major issues and theories involved in the philosophy of intelligence, natural and artificial.  We will examine the major current, competing ideas about what the mind is, what consciousness is, and whether a machine could have a mind.  In doing so we will address such questions as, Is the mind the soul?, Is the brain the mind?, What is the connection between mind and behavior?, Is the brain a kind of computer?, Could any machine ever have a real mind?

Specifically, the goals of the course are to inform you about the latest philosophical thinking on the relation between minds and machines, and to improve your ability to think clearly, imaginatively, and critically about these issues.  

 

Nature of the course

 

The first of the goals listed above will be reached primarily by reading.  Class time will be spent answering questions about the assigned reading and discussing issues raised in it.  These discussions will encourage students to think for themselves and criticize each other's ideas.  Where appropriate I will also offer critical comments and raise questions for discussion.  In order to refresh memories and ensure that we all share a basic understanding of the reading assigned I will briefly go over the main points at the start of each class.  This summary should not be treated as a substitute for reading the assigned material.

  

Required reading

 

David Cockburn An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind St. Martin's Press, 2001

Jack Copeland Artificial Intelligence: A Philosophical Introduction Blackwell, 1993  

Suzanne Cunningham What Is a Mind?: An Integrative Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind Hackett, 2000

 

Requirements and grades

 

The main requirements of the course are that you read the assigned material, make an honest attempt to understand it (by reading it carefully and asking questions about it in class) and make a positive contribution to the class by paying attention and joining in discussions in a constructive way.

 

Grades will be based on the following:

 

Best four out of five quizzes on the assigned reading: 20%

Class participation: 20%

Two 4-6 page papers or one 8-12 page paper: 30%

Final examination: 30%

 

Paper Topics

 

You may write on any of the following topics:

 

a) Explain and assess Descartes's conception of the mind.

b) What is the relation between the mind and the brain?

b) What is the relation between the mind and behavior?

c) How useful is the Turing test for artificial intelligence?

d) How valid is John Searle's "Chinese room" argument?

e) How much like a human being must something be to count as intelligent?

f) Make up your own question but make sure you clear it with me first. 

 

Each paper should total at least 4 complete pages double-spaced in Times New Roman 12 point with standard margins.  Whatever you write about should show an understanding of what Cockburn, Copeland, and Cunningham have to say, if anything, about the subject.

 

 

Syllabus

T Aug 29  Introduction

 

Part I: A History of the Mind

 

R Aug 31  Cartesian Dualism (Cockburn pp. 1-12 and Cunningham pp. 1-13)

T Sep 05  The Cartesian Soul and the Paranormal (Cockburn pp. 13-26)

R Sep 07  Other Minds (Cockburn pp. 27-36)

T Sep 12  Mind and Behavior (Cockburn pp. 37-56 and Cunningham pp. 14-21)

R Sep 14 Review and QUIZ

 

Part II: Contemporary Theories

 

T Sep 19  Video: The Philosophy of Mind

R Sep 21  The Material Mind (Cockburn pp. 57-75)

T Sep 26  Physicalism, Property Dualism, & Functionalism (Cunningham pp. 21-53)

R Sep 28  Mental Causation, Supervenience and Physicalism (Cockburn pp. 76-93)

T Oct 03  Human Beings (Cockburn pp. 94-111)

R Oct 05  Review and QUIZ

 

Part III: Us and the World

 

T Oct 10  The Identity of the Self (Cockburn pp. 112-128 and Cunningham pp. 159-188)

R Oct 12  Freedom and Science (Cockburn pp. 129-141)

T Oct 17  The Self and the World (Cockburn pp. 142-151)

R Oct 19  NO CLASS

T Oct 24  The Matrix (read the essays by Christopher Grau and the Dreyfus brothers, and try this game)

R Oct 26  Review and QUIZ

 

Part IV: Intelligent Machines

 

T Oct 31  Can Machines Think? (Copeland pp. 1-57, Cunningham pp. 184-198)

R Nov 02  The Symbol System Hypothesis (Copeland pp. 58-120)

T Nov 07  John Searle on his Chinese Room (Copeland pp. 121-139)

R Nov 09  The Chinese Room, continued (Cunningham pp. 198-204)

T Nov 14  Review and QUIZ

 

Part V: The Future: Will Machines Ever Think?

 

R Nov 16  Freedom. (Copeland pp. 140-162)  All papers due.

T Nov 21 Consciousness.  (Cunningham pp. 54-95 and Copeland pp. 163-179)  

THANKSGIVING BREAK

T Nov 28  Are We Computers? (Copeland pp. 180-206)  

R Nov 30  Parallel Distributed Processing.  (Copeland pp. 207-248 and Cunningham pp. 205-221)

T Dec 05  NO CLASS

R Dec 07  Review and QUIZ

T Dec 12  Review