Seminar Schedule

PHIL 383—From Neurons to Selves

Spring 2025, Michael Taber

St. Mary’s College of Maryland, USA

 

revised 26 January 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.

 

                  pages

Jan. 14

12

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

6

·        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. 01

 Saturday: 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

13

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

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

7

·        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*

13

Elisabeth Hildt’s “The Prospects of Artificial Consciousness: Ethical Dimensions and Concerns”

Mar. 04

 

mopping up

Mar. 06

Email me your 4-6-page Paper #3 by start of class time. No seminar, as tutorials will be scheduled.

Spring Break

 

 

 

Mar. 18*

12

Meghan Griffith’s Free Will: The Basics (2nd ed.), ch. 1, “Introduction”

Mar. 20*

20

Griffith, ch. 3, “Moral Responsibility and Alternative Possibilities”

Mar. 25

 

No seminar; all SMCM classes canceled for all-day academic advising.

Mar. 27**

57

 

The Mind’s I:

·        #18, Stanislaw Lem’s “The Seventh Sally or How Trurl’s Own Perfection Led to No Good”

·        #19, Stanislaw Lem’s “Non Serviam”

·        #20, Raymond M. Smullyan’s “Is God a Taoist?”

·        #21, Jorge Luis Borges’ “The Circular Ruins”

·        #27, Robert Nozick’s “Fiction”

Apr. 01*

24

Griffith, ch. 4, “Some Compatibilist Proposals”

Apr. 03*

25

Griffith, ch. 5, “Some Incompatibilist Proposals”

Apr. 08*

12

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.

Apr. 10*

23

Griffith, ch. 7, “Free Will and Science”

Apr. 15

 5-minute presentations about people’s research topics

Apr. 17

Apr. 22*

10

2

Griffith, ch. 8, ‘Where Does This Leave Us?”

Paul Conrad Samuelson’s 2019 article in Philosophy Now, “Artificial Consciousness: Our Greatest Ethical Challenge”

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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