24.09 Minds and Machines, Spring 2007

Byrne, Alex

Author(s)

Byrne, Alex

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Alternative title

Minds and Machines

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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?

Date issued

2007-06

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/75805

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

Other identifiers

24.09-Spring2007

local: 24.09

local: IMSCP-MD5-bd5e256c3f2b0f3b3d9518661373743b

Keywords

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

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