PHL2171

Winter Session 2021

Philosophy of Mind: Theories of Consciousness


This course aims to examine a number of philosophical theories of consciousness, with some emphasis on “unorthodox” (i.e., non-physicalist) approaches. Particular theories to be considered include dualistic accounts, epiphenomenalism, panpsychism, eliminativism (or “illusionism”) about consciousness, and neutral monism.


Special Notices

Instructor

Bill Seager
Office: JHB 510 (sadly irrelevant in covid-time)
E-mail: Bill Seager
Office Hrs: by (zoom) appointment.
Mode of Delivery: Synchronous Zoom Video Meetings

Schedule: Classes will meet at 9:30am, Mondays, starting January 11.

Requirements

This will be a seminar course and students will be expected to present two seminars (accompanied by a short paper of approximately 1000 words). At the end of term, a final paper will be due (of between about 4000 words). Seminar topics will be arranged by mutual agreement, so please let me know which readings strike your fancy and I will try to co-ordinate your requests.



Course Schedule

Jan. 11 Introductory Meeting, No Reading. No seminar scheduled.
Jan. 18 Dualism I

R. Descartes: ‘Meditation 6’ and ‘6th Reply’ from The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, Vol. 2;
R. Descartes and E. Simmern van Pallandt ‘Excerpts’ from The Correspondence Between Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and René Descartes, L. Shapiro (ed.): 61-73;
A. Cucu and B. Pitts ‘How Dualists Should (Not) Respond to the Objection From Energy Conservation’, 2019 - Mind and Matter 17 (1): 95-121.
TBA.
Jan. 25 Dualism II

J. Kim: ‘The Rejection of Immaterial Minds: A Causal Argument’ (Ch. 3 of Kim’s 2005 Physicalism, Or Something Close Enough, Princeton University Press);
A. Bailey, J. Rasmussen and L. Van Horn: ‘No Pairing Problem’, 2011 - Philosophical Studies 154 (3): 349-360.


Cassandra Williams (Kim)
Feb. 1 Epiphenomenalism

F. Jackson: ‘Epiphenomenal Qualia’, 1982 - Philosophical Quarterly 32 (April): 127-136;
F. Jackson ‘Postscript on qualia’ (Ch. 7 of Jackson’s Mind, Method and Conditionals: 76-79);
W. Robinson: ‘Knowing Epiphenomena’, 2006 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 13 (1-2): 85-100.

Unnati Patel (Jackson 1)

David Rattray (Robinson)
Feb. 8 Property Dualism

D. Chalmers: ‘Naturalistic Dualism’ (Ch. 4 of Chalmers’s The Conscious Mind OUP 1996);
S. White: ‘The Property Dualism Argument’ in 2009 - In R. Koons and G. Bealer (eds.) The Waning of Materialism: New Essays, OUP: 89-113.
TBA.
Feb. 15 Reading Week. No seminar scheduled.
Feb. 22 Panpsychism

W. Seager: ‘Consciousness, Information, and Panpsychism’ (Ch. 13 of Theories of Consciousness, 2nd Ed. 2016);
G. Strawson: ‘Realistic Monism: Why Physicalism Entails Panpsychism’ 2006 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 13 (10-11): 3-31.


Dwright Crowell

Emily Baron
Mar. 1 Russellian Monism

D. Wishon: ‘Russell’s Neutral Monism and Panpsychism’ in W. Seager (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Panpsychism;
P. Goff: ‘Against Constitutive Russellian Monism’ in T. Alter and Y. Nagasawa (eds.) Consciousness in the Physical World: Perspectives on Russellian Monism, OUP, 2015.


Dwight Crowell (Wishon)

Peixian Shen (Goff)
Mar. 8 Idealism

H. Yetter-Chappell: ‘Idealism Without God’ in T. Goldschmidt & K. Pearce (eds.) Idealism: New Essays in Metaphysics, OUP, 2017;
J. Ross: ‘Idealism and Fine Tuning’ in T. Goldschmidt & K. Pearce (eds.), Idealism: New Essays in Metaphysics, OUP, 2017.


Peixian Shen (Yetter-Chappell)
Martin Dimitrov (Ross)
Mar. 15 Physicalism I

D. Chalmers and F. Jackson: ‘Conceptual Analysis and Reductive Explanation’ The Philosophical Review, Vol. 110, No. 3. (Jul., 2001): 315-360.


David Rattray.
Mar. 22 Physicalism II

D. Papineau: ‘The Rise of Physicalism’ in Carl Gillett & Barry M. Loewer (eds.) Physicalism and Its Discontents, CUP 2001;
W. Seager: ‘Consciousness and Physicalism’ (Ch. 1 of Theories of Consciousness, 2nd Ed. 2016).

Emily Baron (Papineau)

Unnati Patel (Seager)
Mar. 29 Eliminative Materialism

P. Churchland: ‘Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes’ The Journal of Philosophy Vol. 78, No. 2 (Feb., 1981), 67-90;
A. Rosenberg: Chs. 8 and 9 of The Athiest’s Guide to Reality (2011);
P. Boghossian: ‘The Status of Content’ The Philosophical Review, Vol. XCIX, No. 2 (April 1990).
TBA.
Apr. 5 Illusionism

D. Dennett ‘Quining Qualia’ 1988 - In Anthony J. Marcel and E. Bisiach (eds.) Consciousness in Contemporary Science, Oxford University Press;
K. Frankish ‘Illusionism as a Theory of Consciousness’ 2016 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 23 (11-12): 11-39.


Cassandra Williams (Dennett)
Martin Dimitrov (Frankish)



Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario, M1C1A4

Office: MW 374       Phone: 416-208-2976