PHL2057/2171 - Seminar in the Philosophy of Mind: Consciousness Then & Now

Winter Session 2016

This course will explore a number of central questions about consciousness from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Included among the themes will be the relation between consciousness and matter, the unity of consciousness, the nature of consciousness (e.g. higher-order vs. reflexive views), and emergence. Historical readings will be drawn from the likes of Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, Cudworth, etc.; contemporary authors may include Kripke, Chalmers, Levine, Jackson, etc.


Special Notices

Links to readings for Mar. 2: The Bayne and Chalmers article "What is the Unity of Consciousness?" is available online here. The Bayne article "The Unity of Consciousness and the Split-Brain Syndrome" is available through the library via The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 105, No. 6 (Jun., 2008), pp. 277-300.
Topics for the short paper:
1. What is "subsumption" and does it really matter to the unity of consciousness?
2. Select either the Higher Order Thought theory of consciousness or the representationalist theory, and discuss whether Bayne and Chalmers's unity thesis is incompatible with the chosen theory.
3. Discuss Bayne's account of the significance of split brain research for the unity of consciousness.

Instructors

Marleen Rozemond
Office: JHB 504
Email: marleen.rozemond@utoronto.ca
Office Hrs: TBA, or by appointment

William Seager
Office: JHB 510
E-mail: seager@utsc.utoronto.ca
Office Hrs: TBA, or by appointment

Plan of Course

The course is divided into five broad topics: What is Consciousness?, What is Matter?, Emergence, Unity of Consciousness, Dualism. Each topic will have both an historical and contemporary component. Each topic will be covered over two weeks, except Dualism which gets four weeks.

Evaluation

The final grade will be based on five short (500-600 words) written works (divided 3:2 between historical and contemporary topics, or vice versa), cumulatively counting for 30% of the final grade, a term paper worth 60% of the final grade and class participation worth 10% of the final grade. (Note: those taking the course to fulfil a history breadth requirement must write their term paper on an historical topic; those taking the course to fulfil a Mind/Language/Logic breadth requirement must write their term paper on an contemporary topic.)

Texts

Most of the needed texts are readily available online or in the library. Some will be made available via BlackBoard. The Correspondence of Samuel Clarke and Anthony Collins, William Uzaglis, ed. (Broadview Press 2011) can be purchased from Broadview Press here.
Also note some abbreviations.
CSM: Descartes The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, Cottingham, Stoothoff, Murdoch transl, Cambridge, 3 vols. (Online under The Continental Rationalists). Or by the same translators in their Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings, which will have different page numbers. Both collections have the AT page numbers in the margins, which refer to the original language texts edited by Adam and Tannery.
WF: G.W. Leibniz: Philosophical Texts, R.S. Woolhouse and Richard Francks, transl. OUP (available online).

Schedule

Jan. 13: Class Overview and mechanics. What is Consciousness? (historical)
Readings: Descartes, Cudworth, Locke, Leibniz, Samuel Clarke: selections on handout here
Jan. 20: What is Consciousness? (contemporary)
Readings: Thomas Nagel "What is it Like to be a Bat?" (Philosophical Review, 83:4, pp. 435-50), Frank Jackson "Epiphenomenal Qualia" (Philosophical Quarterly, 32:127, pp. 127-36)
Topics for the short paper (500-600 words):
(1) Nagel's core argument in "What Is It Like to be a Bat?" is surprisingly elusive. What do you think the primary conclusion of the paper is supposed to be? Outline the argument for it.
(2) By contrast, Jackson's argumentative structure in "Epiphenomenal Qualia" is very clear. Discuss what you take to be the best or most interesting line of criticism that could be directed against Jackson's "knowledge argument".
Jan. 27: What is Matter? (historical) Readings: Descartes Principles (I.53, 60), Leibniz "Correspondence with Arnauld" ( WF 115-134) , Samuel Clarke and Anthony Collins The Correspondence of Samuel Clarke and Anthony Collins (46-49, 56-62, 69-77, 91-103, 108-114; Divisibility and extension: 81-84, 106-8) [Secondary literature: Marleen Rozemond "The Achilles Argument and the Nature of Matter in the Clarke-Collins Correspondence", in The Achilles of Rational Psychology, T. Lennon and R. Stainton eds., Springer Verlag, 2008, pp. 159-175 (online)]
Topics for the short paper (450-600 words:
(1) In the correspondence with Arnauld, Leibniz argues that the (Cartesian) notion of matter or body has various serious problems. What problems does he see? Raise one critical or interpretative question in some detail.
(2) What conception of matter emerges from the Clarke-Collins Correspondence? What relations do you see between what Leibniz says and what Clarke and Collins say? Raise one critical or interpretative question in some detail.
If your last name begins with L-Z (inclusive), please select one to write on and please submit your paper online on the BB site for PHL 2057 before class on Jan 27.
Feb. 3: Emergence (historical) Readings: Samuel Clarke and Anthony Collins The Correspondence of Samuel Clarke and Anthony Collins (119-120, 122-131, 143-50, 154-179, 204-221, 250-252)
[Secondary literature: "Marleen Rozemond, “Can Matter Think? The Mind-Body Problem in the Clarke-Collins Correspondence” Topics in Early Modern Philosophy of Mind, Jon Miller ed., Springer Verlag, 2009), pp. 171-192 (online)]
Feb. 10: What is Matter (contemporary)
Readings: Daniel Stoljar "Two Conceptions of the Physical", Derk Pereboom "Consciousness, Physicalism and Absolutely Intrinsic Properties"
Feb. 17: Reading Week (no classes).
Feb. 24: Emergence (contemporary)
Readings: Brian McLaughlin "The Rise and Fall of British Emergentism, Timothy 0'Connor and Hong Yu Wong "The Metaphysics of Emergence"
Mar. 2: Unity of Consciousness (contemporary) Readings: Tim Bayne and David Chalmers "What is the Unity of Consciousness", Tim Bayne "The Unity of Consciousness and the Split-Brain Syndrome"
Mar. 9: Unity of Consciousness (historical) Readings: Descartes Meditations (AT VII 28-29, 85-86/CSM II 19, 59), Ralph Cudworth The True Intellectual System of the Universe (pp. 822-826 (online)) , Pierre Bayle Historical and Critical Dictionary (pp. 129-134 (online)), Locke as critic (online)
Mar. 16: Dualism (historical) Descartes Meditations VI (AT VII 78-79/CSM II 54-55), "Second Replies" (AT VII 160-162/CSM II 113-114), Principles (I.51-54, 60-65), "Comments on a Certain Broadsheet" (AT VIII-2, 347-352/CSM I 297-300). [Secondary literature: Rozemond 1998, ch. 1 (online), Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra, "Descartes’s Substance Dualism and His Independence Conception of Substance", Journal of the History of Philosophy, 2008, 69-90]
Mar. 23: Dualism (historical) Readings: Malebranche, Leibniz, Locke (as critic). Locke An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (IV.III.6), from the "Letters to Stillingfleet" (BB, Works III 460-467), Malebranche 1992 87, 150 (BB), Leibniz: "Conversation" (AG 263-), New Essays, Preface (AG 300-306; 378-9 online) (see list of texts above), "Monadology" (1-20, especially 14, 16, 17), "Letter to De Volder" (AG 174), "Letter to Bayle" (on BB), "Reflections on the Souls of Beasts" (§§ 1-6, on BB) [Secondary literature: Margaret Wilson "Leibniz and Materialism", Canadian Journal of Philosophy 1974, Marleen Rozemond "Mills Can’t Think: Leibniz’ Approach to the Mind-Body Problem" Res Philosophica 2014, (Optional: Paul Lodge "Leibniz’ Mill Argument against Mechanical Materialism Revisited", Ergo, 2014.)]
Mar. 30: Dualism (contemporary) Readings: Saul Kripke Naming and Necessity (Lecture 3), David Chalmers The Conscious Mind (ch. 4)
Apr. 6: Dualism (contemporary) Readings: Ned Block and Robert Stalnaker "Conceptual Analysis, Dualism and the Explanatory Gap", Frank Jackson and David Chalmers "Conceptual Analysis and Reductive Explanation"


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