Module 02483 (2001)
Syllabus page 2001/2002
06-02483
Philosophy of Cognitive Science
Level 3/H
ard
10 credits in Semester 2
Links | Outline | Aims | Outcomes | Prerequisites | Teaching | Assessment | Books | Detailed Syllabus
The Module Description is a strict subset of this Syllabus Page. (The University module description has not yet been checked against the School's.)
Relevant Links
Further information about this module,
including any last-minute changes,
corrections and alterations to the information
contained above, can be found on my
Philosophy of Cognitive Science module web page
.
Outline
Some of the fascinating philosophical problems thrown up by cognitive science and related disciplines will be presented. Philosophical problems are notoriously difficult to solve, so a methodology will be presented to enable students to tackle them. Students will be shown the advantages of pluralism, proliferation and pancritical rationalism.
Aims
The aims of this module are to:
- present and discuss some of the fascinating philosophical problems that are thrown up by cognitive science and cognate disciplines
- show that the best way in which to approach a philosophical problem is by using an anti-justificationist methodology
- encourage students to construct their own theories and to appreciate the value of pluralism, Feyerabend's principle of proliferation and Bartley's pancritical rationalism
Learning Outcomes
| On successful completion of this module, the student should be able to: | Assessed by: | |
| 1 | identify some of the key philosophical problems thrown up by work being done in cognitive science and related discipline | Continuous Assessment |
| 2 | tackle a philosophical problem using an anti-justification methodology | Continuous Assessment |
| 3 | appreciate the importance of pluralism, proliferation and pancritical rationalism | Continuous Assessment |
| 4 | distinguish between philosophical problems and other sorts of problem | Continuous Assessment |
| 5 | use an anti-justificationist methodology | Continuous Assessment |
| 6 | e evaluate proposed theories within cognitive science | Continuous Assessment |
| 7 | pick an interesting philosophical problem to investigate | Continuous Assessment |
| 8 | criticise a theory by showing that it fails to solve any problem whatsoever | Continuous Assessment |
| 9 | criticise a theory by showing that it fails to solve a problem adequately | Continuous Assessment |
| 10 | avoid asking what-is questions | Continuous Assessment |
| 11 | put the method of multiple working hypotheses into practice | Continuous Assessment |
| 12 | appreciate the importance of the belief-filter component of an android | Continuous Assessment |
| 13 | appreciate the complexity of the task of designing the belief-filter component of an android | Continuous Assessment |
| 14 | avoid the dangers of ultimate commitment | Continuous Assessment |
| 15 | distinguish between justification and criticism | Continuous Assessment |
| 16 | appreciate the errors involved in the strategy of attacking foundations | Continuous Assessment |
| 17 | recognise when the strategy of attacking foundations is being used | Continuous Assessment |
| 18 | distinguish between good and bad methodology | Continuous Assessment |
Restrictions, Prerequisites and Corequisites
Restrictions:
None
Prerequisites:
None
Co-requisites:
None
Teaching
Teaching Methods:
Ten 1 hr weekly lectures.
Contact Hours:
Assessment
- Supplementary (where allowed): As the sessional assessment
- Continuous assessment (100%): a 3000 word essay.
Recommended Books
| Title | Author(s) | Publisher, Date |
| The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul | Douglas R. Hofstadter and Daniel C. Dennett (editors) | Penguin Books , 1982 |
| Knowledge and the Body-mind Problem | Karl Popper | Routledge , 1994 |
| The Retreat to Commitment (second edition) | W. W. Bartley III | Open Court , 1984 |
| The Self and its Brain | K. R. Popper and J. Eccles | Routledge , 1977 |
| Consciousness Explained | Daniel C. Dennett | Penguin , 1993 |
| Objective Knowledge | Karl Popper | OUP , 1975 |
| Unended Quest | Karl Popper | Routledge , 1992 |
| Proofs and Refutations | Imre Lakatos | CUP , 1976 |
| The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence | Margaret Boden (editor) | OUP , 1990 |
| The Philosophy of Artificial Life | Margaret Boden (editor) | OUP , 1996 |
| The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences | Robert A. Wilson and Frank C. Keil (editors) | MIT , 1999 |
| A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind | Samuel Guttenplan (editor) | Blackwell , 1995 |
| A Companion to Cognitive Science | William Bechtel and George Graham (editors) | Blackwell , 1998 |
| Toward a Psychology of Being (third edition) | Abraham Maslow | Wiley , 1998 |
| Testimony: A Philosophical Study | C. A. J. Coady | OUP , 1992 |
| Android Epistemology | Kenneth M. Ford, Clark Glymour and Patrick J. Hayes (editors) | MIT Press , 1995 |
| Ten Problems of Consciousness | Michael Tye | MIT Press , 1995 |
Detailed Syllabus
- Introduction: assessment; style of presentation; philosophical background; methodology; content and topics; treat the essay as a mini-project; possible case studies to be used throughout the course (`Can computers think?', `Is the Turing test adequate to determine whether computers can think?', `Can physical systems think?', `Can Chinese rooms think?', `Can connectionist networks think?', `Can computers think in images?', `Do computers have to be conscious to think?', `Are thinking computers mathematically possible?').
- Disciplines: why what-is questions are best avoided; academic disciplines are useful for administrators but not researchers; essentialism and nominalism; theories and larger units (scientific research programmes, paradigms, research traditions); the computational-representational understanding of mind; the CRUM research programme; metaphysical research programmes.
- Philosophy: rationale for studying; methodological rules; bad methodology (what-is questions, definition, premature implementation, induction); good methodology (nominalism, proliferation, anti-justificationism, thought-out implementation, the method of multiple working hypotheses and pluralism); background; epistemology (the bucket theory of the mind, the belief-filter component of an android, testimony).
- Definitions: terminology, what-is questions; essentialism; real; abbreviatory; bad advice 'Define your terms!'; etymological fallacy; family resemblance; Popper's table of ideas; infinite regress.
- Problems: psychology and AI; inconsistencies; facts; difficulties; questions; search problems; philosophical (change, personal identity, body-mind, other minds, universals, testimony, free will); Tye's (ownership, mechanism, phenomenal causation, duplicates); epistemological (justificationist, anti-justificationist, belief-filter component); non-philosophical (practical, theoretical, historical, mathematical); methodological advice; erotetic narratology.
- Philosophy of science and creativity: problems as starting points; Popper's tetradic schema; creativity (Hadamard, Evans); context of discovery and criticism; the myth of induction.
- Explanation and prediction: covering law model; poor methodology; falsification as good methodology: `We predict by reference to our present theories; we learn by refuting our present theories' (Bartley).
- Philosophy of mind: mind-body problem; Popper's three worlds; Tye's ten problems of consciousness; functionalism; closed-world assumption; hierarchical organisation of reality; reduction; emergence; upward and downward causation; evolution.
- Belief-filter component: ultimate goal of AI; philosophical problem of testimony; rationalism (uncritical or comprehensive, pancritical); Reid's principle of credulity; Price's principle of trust; the strategy of attacking foundations and Searle's use of; how not to win an argument (Gilbert); infinite regress; ultimate commitment; irrationalism and relativism.
Last updated: 29 July 2001
Source file: /internal/modules/COMSCI/2001/xml/02483.xml
Links | Outline | Aims | Outcomes | Prerequisites | Teaching | Assessment | Books | Detailed Syllabus