Module 02483 (2008)
Syllabus page 2008/2009
06-02483
Philosophy of Cognitive Science
Level 3/H
Antoni Diller
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 an appropriate methodology for the identification and resolution of the philosophical problems that inescapably arise in some of the component disciplines of Cognitive Science (including elements of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science)
- give examples of how philosophical theories influence and sometimes distort work being done, both theoretical and also practical software development, in some of the component disciplines of Cognitive Science (including elements of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science)
- present and discuss some of the philosophical problems that arise in the mathematical and theoretical foundations of some of the component disciplines of Cognitive Science (including elements of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science)
Learning Outcomes
| On successful completion of this module, the student should be able to: | Assessed by: | |
| 1 | use an appropriate methodology for the identification of philosophical problems that inescapably arise in Cognitive Science | Continuous Assessment |
| 2 | use an appropriate methodology for the resolution of philosophical problems that occur in Cognitive Science | Continuous Assessment |
| 3 | put into practice a variety of methods for the criticism of rival theories | Continuous Assessment |
| 4 | identify the influence of philosophical theories on theoretical work being done in Cognitive Science | Continuous Assessment |
| 5 | identify the influence of philosophical theories on practical software development being done in Cognitive Science | Continuous Assessment |
| 6 | relate foundational issues in Cognitive Science to more practical work being done there, including programming and software development | Continuous Assessment |
Restrictions, Prerequisites and Corequisites
Restrictions:
None
Prerequisites:
None
Co-requisites:
None
Teaching
Teaching Methods:
Ten 1 hr weekly lectures.
Contact Hours:
Assessment
- Sessional: Continuous assessment (100%).
- Supplementary (where allowed): As the sessional assessment
- The normal continuous assessment consists of 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 module (`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 Oct 2005
Source file: /internal/modules/COMSCI/2008/xml/02483.xml
Links | Outline | Aims | Outcomes | Prerequisites | Teaching | Assessment | Books | Detailed Syllabus