24.09 Minds and Machines, Spring 2007
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24-09-spring-2007/contents/index.htm
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Author(s)
Byrne, Alex
Alternative Title
Minds and Machines
Date Issued
June 2007
Abstract
This course is an introduction to many of the central issues in a branch of philosophy called philosophy of mind. Some of the questions we will discuss include the following. Can computers think? Is the mind an immaterial thing? Or is the mind the brain? Or does the mind stand to the brain as a computer program stands to the hardware? How can creatures like ourselves think thoughts that are "about" things? (For example, we can all think that Aristotle is a philosopher, and in that sense think "about" Aristotle, but what is the explanation of this quite remarkable ability?) Can I know whether your experiences and my experiences when we look at raspberries, fire trucks and stop lights are the same? Can consciousness be given a scientific explanation?
Subjects
Searle; AI
dualism
behaviorism
identity theory
functionalism
intentionality
externalism
self-knowledge
knowledge argument
chalmer
panprotopsychism
mysterianism
conciousness
rene descartes
mind
brain
causal theory
pain
relief
meaning
individualism
qualia
mind-body problem
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. History Section
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Music and Theater Arts Section
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Science, Technology and Society
MIT Program in Women's and Gender Studies
MIT Program in Writing & Humanistic Studies
Terms of Use
Persistent DSpace Link
