Joe Lau

PHIL 2220 The Mind (2006-07 1st semester)

  • Mobile phone fine: $20 [Donated to HK Red Cross on 18 Nov 2006]
  • Tuesday 1600-1750, lecture room has changed to MG07 of Main Building.
  • General information about the course. Please read.
  • Course objectives - Discuss critically some of the important and interesting issues in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science, and see how science and philosophy interacts.
  • No course text. See the notes below for readings. Required readings have been marked.
  • There is a course mailing list. Use the list to post questions. Some readings will be sent out via the mailing list.
  • No regular tutorials, but we have a course tutor: Dr. Kelly Inglis (kellyinglis yahoo.com) Make an appointment with her if you have questions. When you write your second paper, you are strongly encouraged to discuss your essay plan with her.

Announcements

  • [4 Dec] Kelly has selected three good essays from the first assignment. I have posted them online and I hope this helps you improve your own essays. sample1, sample2, sample3.
  • [31 Oct] You can pick up your first essay from Loletta starting Thur 2 Nov.
  • [22 Oct] I shall be posting topics for essay #2 here. Late policy: 1/3 deduction of marks for each day that is late. See Studying Philosophy and bottom of this page for guidelines.
  • [21 Sept] Topic for essay #1 Late policy: 1/3 deduction of marks for each day that is late.

Course schedule

No meeting during reading week.

  1. Introduction
  2. Formal logic and mental logic
  3. Consciousness as internal monitoring
  4. Consciousness and the explanatory gap
  5. Cognitivist theories of emotions
  6. Feedback on assignment #1? + Q&A
  7. Unconscious emotions
  8. The psychology of freewill
  9. More on freewill (conducted by Dr. Inglis) (powerpoint file on google group site)
  10. Split-brain and the self
  11. Active externalism

Coursework

  • You need to write two essays for this course.
  • You need to submit an electronic copy (msword) online to http://www.turnitin.com to check for plagiarism. You also need to print out a hardcopy of the same essay and submit it to Loletta at the Philosophy Dept. Make sure that the essay includes your course number, student ID, name and email.
  • To submit your essay online, you need to register for this course at the turnitin web site. The course id is 1623957. Check lecture #1 handout for the password.
  • First essay (30% of final grade): 500-750 words not including references. Due 11pm Sunday 8 Oct. Hand in hardcopy on or before 5pm 10 Oct.
  • Second essay (70%): 1500-2500 words not including references. Due 11pm Sunday 17 Dec. Hand in hardcopy on or before 5pm 19 Dec.
  • Include a word count in your essay.
  • Essay topics will be announced here later on.
  • Check this page for citation format. I prefer APA style citation.
  • Penalty for handing in late: 1/3 deduction of marks for each day that is late.