24.09 Minds and Machines, Spring 2007
Author(s)
Byrne, Alex
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Alternative title
Minds and Machines
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
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
2007-06Department
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 StudiesOther 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