Joe Lau's wiki: Courses/2009a PHIL 2230

PHIL2230 Philosophy and Cognitive Science

Announcements

• [11 Nov] The lectures are finished after 11 Nov.
• [27 Oct] I am afraid I need to move the second essay deadline forward to 23 Dec. This is because the Arts Faculty has recently announced that the grades have to be submitted in early Jan. We need to allow enough time to mark the essays. Sorry about this.
• [21 Oct] Essay topics are now online.
• No lecture on 14 Oct as it will be reading week.
• You can go to the Philosophy Dept Main Office starting Thr 17 Sept and sign up for tutorials with Loletta. First come first served. You must signup before 25 Sept.
• The UK Prime Minister has just issued a statement about Alan Turing! http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20571
• There is a possibility that there will a different lecturer later in the term, and that some of the topics below might change. This is not confirmed yet.

General information

• Lecture - 0830-1020 Wednesday M103 (no lecture during reading week.)
• Lecturer - Joe Lau ContactInfo
• Course tutor - Barbara Dalle Pezze (dr.dphk@gmail.com)

Course schedule

The notes from #10 onwards are not finalized yet.

1. Introduction - what has philosophy got to do with it?
   • WhatIsCognitiveScience, PhilosophyAndCognitiveScience
2. The Turing test - what is intelligence?
   • Turing Test, BlockPsychologism
3. Connectionism I - neural networks in the brain
   • LOT, ConnectionismIntroduction
4. Connectionism II - an alternative to the language of thought theory?
5. Consciousness and cognitive access I
   • ConsciousnessDifferentConcepts, Blindsight
   • Mid-term quiz
6. Consciousness and cognitive access II - change blindness and consciousness
7. [14 Oct] Reading week - no lecture
8. Consciousness and the will - do we have freewill?
9. Moral intuitions and moral reasoning - recent discussion about the trolley problem
10. Cognitive enhancements - what are the limits?
11. Religious experience - are they real or just illusions of the mind? (last lecture)

Assessment

• One final term paper (50%) + one mid-term quiz (20%) + tutorial performance (30%) (will include two very short assignments).