Fall 2008

This course reviews central issues in theory of meaning, in particular the relation between meaning and reference to objects. What explains our ability to refer to objects? Is the ability to think about an object a matter of standing in an appropriate causal relation to it? And if we take this view, does it help us to understand how thought might be in the end a biological phenomenon? We will look at basic lines of thought set out here by Kripke and Putnam, and theorists such as Dretske and Fodor who have built on their ideas. We will also look at the contrasting view of meaning and reference presented by the later Wittgenstein.  We will begin, however, with the classical views of Frege and Russell.  Prerequisite: two previous courses in philosophy.

Fall 2007

In this introductory course we will be looking at the relation of psychological states, such as desires or memories, to the physical world.   There are five sections in the course:  Foundations (Dualism, Behaviorism and Central-State Materialism), Functionalism, Consciousness, Intentionality, and Personal Identity.  What is the mind?   Are mental states, such as beliefs and desires, memories and hopes, characteristics of a non-physical substance, or are they configurations of the physical world?   And if we think that mental states are entirely physical, should we think of them as relating to the ways in which a person tends to behave, or are they rather states of the person�'s brain?   Can a mental state be explained by its potential for causal relations with other mental states and with behavior?   What is the relation between conscious experience and the brain?   Is consciousness something over and above the ordinary biological functioning of the brain, or can it somehow be explained in biological terms?   How can we explain our ability to think about the world?  What is a person?   These questions will be explored in the course of beginning to understand the nature of the mind.

Fall 2005

This course is taught jointly with Alison Gopnik in Psychology and cross-listed there.

We will explore the issues of causation and causal learning from an interdisciplinary perspective including readings in developmental psychology, philosophy and computation. Issues will include the role of intervention, probability, counterfactual thinking and space in causal cognition. A special interest will be the problem of psychological causation.