Seminar Schedule

PHIL 383—From Neurons to Selves

Spring 2025, Michael Taber

St. Mary’s College of Maryland, USA

revised 14 March 2025

There is a Google folder in which live some of the materials linked below.

For the thinkers and issues we’ll be discussing this semester, consider consulting as needed:

· Wikipedia—a good place to start; rarely, though sometimes, a good place to end.

· the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (peer-reviewed, hence trustworthy)

· the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (peer-reviewed, and its articles are even more detailed than those of the IEP…sometimes more than one’d bargained for)

These latter two are both reputable sites; the articles are put there by people who know what they’re talking about.

* = sessions available for you to lead for 20 minutes

pages

Jan. 14	15	Come to the first seminar having read from Philosophy of Mind: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments (Alter, Howell, & Kind, eds.): 1. The Floating Man 2. Leibniz’s Mill 3. The Disembodied Pain
Jan. 16	9 1	· Gennaro’s Mind and Brain: A Dialogue on the Mind-Body Problem, The First Night, secs. 1.1 & 1.2 · The Mind’s I: #1, Jorge Luis Borges’ “Borges and I”
Jan. 21	15 24	· Gennaro, The Second Night, 2.1-2.3 · 50 Puzzles: chs. 4-7
Jan. 23	15 12	· Gennaro, The Second Night, 2.4 & 2.5 · 50 Puzzles: chs. 12 & 16 · This video “Mary’s Room: A philosophical thought experiment” [5 mins.] · And now you can appreciate the song “What Mary Didn’t Know” by Dorian Electra [3 mins.]
Jan. 28	15 5 7 8	· Gennaro, The Third Night, secs. 3.1 & 3.2 · 50 Puzzles: ch. 26 · an interview with Jenann Ismael in this 2-minute video The Mind’s I: · #7, Terrel Miedaner’s “The Soul of Martha, a Beast” · #8, Terrel Miedaner’s “The Soul of Mark III Beast”
Jan. 30	16 10	· Gennaro, The Third Night, secs. 3.3-3.5 · 50 Puzzles: ch. 17 & 20 4 Khan Academy videos about neuronal functioning: · “Cerebral Cortex” [8:22] · “Overview of Neuron Function” [7:58] · “Neurotransmitter Release” [4:20] · “Neuron Resting Potential Description” [7:15] 5-minute in-class quiz on material for today.
Feb. 02	Sunday: Email me your 2-3-page Paper #1 by noon, on some writing(s) from this past week.
Feb. 04	3 20 2 8 2 2 3	The Mind’s I: · #9, Allen Wheelis’ “Spirit” · #22, John Searle’s “Minds, Brains, and Programs” · #23, Raymond M. Smullyan’s “An Unfortunate Dualist” · 50 Puzzles: chs. 10 & 18 · Michael S. A. Graziano’s 2012 New York Times article argues against consciousness in “Are We Really Conscious?” (And readers responded.) · Galen Strawson’s 2016 New York Times article “Consciousness Isn’t a Mystery. It’s Matter” · Now you should be able to get some of the issues mentioned in George Johnson’s 2016 New York Times article “Consciousness: The Mind Messing with the Mind”
Feb. 06	3 10 10	· Terry Bisson’s short story “They’re Made Out of Meat” The Mind’s I: · #12, Arnold Zuboff’s “The Story of a Brain” · #13, Daniel C. Dennett’s “Where Am I?”
Feb. 11 Snow day	24 22 3	· Galen Strawson’s “The Silliest Claim” · Strawson’s “Real Naturalism” · Philip Goff’s 2017 article in Philosophy Now, “The Case for Panpsychism”
Feb. 13	Email me your 4-6-page Paper #2 by start of class time. No seminar, as tutorials will be scheduled.
Feb. 18*	11 7	· 50 Puzzles: chs. 39 & 40 · Excerpts from the Milindapanha: “The Questions of King Milinda” · Michael Correll’s pictorial SMP “Can Machines Think: A Philosophical Guide”
Feb. 20**	15 3	· 50 Puzzles: chs. 41-43 · The Mind’s I: ch. 2, Harding’s “On Having No Head”
Feb. 25*	15	· 50 Puzzles: chs. 44-46 · Every Little Thing podcast episode “Ever Felt Someone’s Pain…In Your Butt?” [30 mins.] · Austin Frakt’s 2019 New York Times article “If ‘Pain Is an Opinion,’ There Are Ways to Change Your Mind”
Feb. 27*	24 22 3	· Galen Strawson’s “The Silliest Claim” · Strawson’s “Real Naturalism” · Philip Goff’s 2017 article in Philosophy Now, “The Case for Panpsychism”
Mar. 04*	15	Elisabeth Hildt’s “The Prospects of Artificial Consciousness: Ethical Dimensions and Concerns”
Mar. 06	Email me your 4-6-page Paper #3 by start of class time. No seminar, as tutorials will be scheduled.
Spring recess
Mar. 18*	12	Meghan Griffith’s Free Will: The Basics (2^nd ed.), ch. 1, “Introduction” Chrysanthe
Mar. 20*	12	Griffith, ch. 3, “Moral Responsibility and Alternative Possibilities” Kacie
Mar. 25** Julia & Eve	37	The Mind’s I: · #18, Stanislaw Lem’s “The Seventh Sally or How Trurl’s Own Perfection Led to No Good” · #20, Raymond M. Smullyan’s “Is God a Taoist?” · #21, Jorge Luis Borges’ “The Circular Ruins” · #27, Robert Nozick’s “Fiction”
Mar. 27*	22	· Griffith, ch. 4, “Some Compatibilist Proposals” Corinne
Apr. 01*	22	Griffith, ch. 5, “Some Incompatibilist Proposals” Jack
Apr. 03*	11	Griffith, ch. 6, “Other Positions” Radiolab podcast episode “Revising the Fault Line” [49 mins.] (Note Robert Sapolsky’s strong reaction to the judge’s reasoning.) Now you can listen to Rush’s 1980 song “Free Will,” with lyrics here. Dani
Apr. 08	All-day academic advising—no classes today
Apr. 10*	23		Griffith, ch. 7, “Free Will and Science” Hunter
Apr. 15	5-minute presentations about people’s research topics
Apr. 17
Apr. 22*	10 3		Griffith, ch. 8, ‘Where Does This Leave Us?” Paul Conrad Samuelson’s 2019 article in Philosophy Now, “Artificial Consciousness: Our Greatest Ethical Challenge” Sam
Apr. 24	Teach Your Family
Thursday May 01				Final paper due emailed by end of finals slot, 7:00-9:15 p.m.

Send me comments:  mstaber at smcm dot edu

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