PHIL 153A: Neurophilosophy
Fall 2015
Tzofit Ofengenden
Class Meetings: T, F 11:00 - 12:20
Email: tzofit@brandeis.edu
Office Tel: 781-736-2695
Office Hours: T, F 12:30- 2:00 and by appointment
Course Description
This course introduces major problems and key concepts at the intersection between
philosophy and neuroscience. We will explore important developments in neuroscience
and neurotechnology, and address the philosophical, and ethical problems that
such advancements generate. We will start by exploring the way philosophers and
neuroscientists approach brain, mind, consciousness, embodiment, conceptions of self,
and memory. Though neuroscientific and psychological theories are pertinent to
philosophical discussions, we will not be able to present in-depth scientific views. Then
we will discuss contemporary issues in neuroethics such as free will, responsibility and
enhancement. We will tackle questions such as: what is the function of consciousness?
How does the brain create awareness of one’s self? To what extent does the body affect
the mind? How does memory work? How do we come to decisions, and are those
decisions free? What does neuroscience tell us about free will? Should drugs be used to
enhance memory, attention, and concentration? Finally, we will consider the
opportunities and limitations of neuroscientific methods for philosophical inquiry, and
discuss emerging and future directions in this area.
Course Materials:
All reading materials will be either posted on the course website, available online or
through the library database.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
1.
2.
3.
Develop a critical understanding of the argument presented in the assigned
readings and class discussion
Equip students with a rudimentary understanding of neuroscience that is
applicable to philosophical and ethical debates in the philosophy of mind and
neuroethics.
Critically reflect upon how neuroscience may affect philosophical and ethical
issues pertaining to the relation between brain and the mind, consciousness,
self, free will, and others.
Course Requirements
Reading:
You will read the material assigned for class prior to our meeting. We shall spend most of
our class time going over the assigned readings in an effort to analyze them, and to
delineate their core arguments. Therefore always bring the assigned reading with you.
Attendance and Participation:
I place great stress on coming to class, having read the relevant material, responding to
Latte web site and active participation, all of which will be noted. If anything prevents
you from coming to class or doing the assignments, please see me.
Latte Assignments and Informational Postings
This course will have a Latte web site. An updated syllabus and reading materials will be
posted there.
Response papers
You will be asked to send me responses to study questions for the reading assigned every
week. Each response should be about a one page. Your responses will be due by midnight
on Mondays. These assignments will not be graded but receive credit/no credit grade. In
your response paper I expect you to demonstrate your comprehension of the material and
your ability to think critically about it. Discuss your thoughts about the writer’s argument
and explain your position.
In-class Debate
There will be 5 class debates on philosophical issues we will discuss in class. I will
provide the subject for the debate a few days in advance. This will enable you to prepare
beforehand. On the day of the debate we will divide the class to groups of four or five
(depending on the size of the class). Each group will be assigned with an argument to
defend. After 15 minutes each group will present their position. Since the class will be
divided randomly into "pro" and "con" teams, and you cannot know what position you
will need to defend, it would be wise to prepare for both positions. After the first
presentation the groups will have a few more minutes to reconsider their argument and
prepare to reply to the arguments presented by the opposite side in order to defend their
position.
Papers
I will assign four writing assignments over the course of the semester. Students will write
three take home essays of 5-7 pages each and a term paper of 10-15 pages. Three weeks
before the first paper is due, we will have a class in which I will provide the students with
guidance on how to write a philosophical paper.
Papers will proceed through a series of guided stages:
Midterm Papers
1. Paper topics will be distributed, though students will be able to develop your own.
2. They will have to meet and discuss the topics they chose with me.
3. Students will send me a draft of their papers 10 days before the deadline and will
do a rewrite for each of the three papers before submitting it for grading.
Term paper: The term paper is intended to provide you with an opportunity to develop
their own thoughts in greater detail and may be an extension of one of your shorter
writing assignments.
The final paper will proceed through a series of guided stages:
1. Topics will be distributed 5 weeks before the end of semester. However, you can
set your own question for the term paper, as long as your paper addresses a
research problem discussed in class.
2. You should make an appointment to meet with me to discuss an abstract of the
intended term paper no later than four weeks before the paper is due. Please
prepare a ½ - 1 page proposal. This proposal should state the subject of your
paper (what debate or question will you be looking at), a rough version of your
thesis (what position will you be arguing for), and a preliminary list of sources
that you will be consulting.
3. You will submit your draft for feedback and corrections two weeks before the
deadline. I will return the drafts with comments a week before the deadline. Final
versions should then be submitted for grading (by email attachment) by
December 8.
All writing should be sent to my email address and you should expect a confirmation that
I have received the paper. If you have not received such confirmation, contact me.
First paper will be due on Friday, September 18th before the start of class.
Second paper will be due on Tuesday, October 13th before the start of the class.
Third paper will be due on Tuesday, November 3rd before the start of the class.
Term Paper draft is due on Tuesday, November 24th before the start of the class.
Term paper will be due on Tuesday, December 8th before the start of the class.
Grading:
Class participation based on reading, debates, and response papers: 25%
First Paper 15%
Second Paper 15%
Third Paper 15%
Term Paper 30%
Disabilities:
Please see me at the beginning of the course if you have any disabilities, which would
require special academic consideration.
Academic Integrity
You are accepted to be familiar with, and to follow, the University’s policies on academic
integrity. Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities for all policies
and procedures. All policies related to academic integrity apply to in-class and take home
projects, assignments, exams, and quizzes. Students may only collaborate on assignments
with permission from the instructor. Allegations of alleged academic dishonesty will be
forward to the Director of Academic Integrity. Sanctions for Academic dishonesty can
include failing grades and/or suspension from the university.
Schedule of Topics and Readings:
The following course schedule is tentative and subject to change. Such changes, if any,
will be announced in class and on the course website.
Week 1
Understanding the problem of consciousness
8/28
Introduction: what is Neurophilosophy?
Week 2
9/1
Thomas Nagel, 1974, “What is it like to be a Bat?” The Philosophical Review, 83: 435450.
David Chalmers, 1995, “Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness,” Journal of
Consciousness Studies, 3-27.
9/4
Crick, F. H. C., and Koch, C., 1990, “Towards a neurobiological theory of
consciousness,” Seminars in the Neurosciences, 2: 263-275.
Baars, B. J., 2002, “The Conscious Access Hypothesis: Origins and Recent Evidence,”
Trends in Cognitive Sciences (6): 1, 47–52.
Week 3
How the brain gives rise to consciousness
9/8
Instructions how to write a philosophical paper
9/11
Week 4
9/15 Holiday - no class
9/18
Andreas K. Engel and Wolf Singer, 2001, “Temporal Binding and the Neural Correlates
of Sensory Awareness,” Trend in Cognitive Sciences, Vol.5 No.1, 16-25.
Ned Block, 2009, “Comparing Theories of Consciousness,” in Michael Gazzaniga (Ed.),
The Cognitive Neuroscience IV, MIT Press, 1111-1122.
NOTE: First paper is due on Friday, September 18th at the start of class.
Week 5
9/22
Alva Noe and Evan Thompson, 2004, “Are There Neural Correlates of
Consciousness?” Journal of Consciousness Studies, 11, 1; 3-28.
9/25
Michael Gazzaniga, 2008, “The Left Hemisphere Does Not Miss the Right Hemisphere,”
in Laureys, Steven Tononi, Giulio (Eds.), Neurology of Consciousness: Cognitive
Neuroscience and Neuropathology, 261 – 270.
Week 6
Situated Cognition
9/29,
Philip Robbins and Murat Aydede, 2012, “A Short Primar On Situated Cognition,” in P.
Robbins and. M. Aydede (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Situated Cognition,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 3-11.
10/2
Gallagher, 2012, “Philosophical Antecedents of Situated Cognition,” in P. Robbins and.
M. Aydede (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Situated Cognition, Cambridge: Cambridge
University.
Week 7
The embodied Mind
10/6
Shaun Gallagher, 2005, How the Body Shapes the Mind. Oxford University Press,
Chapter 2.
10/9
Shaun Gallagher, 2005, How the Body Shapes the Mind. Oxford University Press,
Chapter 3.
Week 8
10/13 Jesse Prinz, “Is Consciousness Embodied?” in P. Robbins and. M. Aydede (Eds.),
Cambridge Handbook of Situated Cognition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
419-436.
NOTE: second paper is due on Friday, October 13th at the start of class.
10/16
The extended mind
Clark A., and Chalmers, D., 1998, “The Extended Mind,” Analysis, 58, 10-23.
Thompson, E. and Verela, F., 2001, “Radical Embodiment: Neural Dynamics and
Consciousness,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5: 418-425.
Week 9
Self and Self-Knowledge
10/20
U. Neisser, 1988, “Five Kinds of Self-Knowledge,” Philosophical Psychology 1: 35-59,
10/23
Thomas Metzinger, 2011, “The no – Self Alternative,” in Shaun Gallagher (Ed.), The
Oxford Handbook of the Self, Oxford: oxford University Press, 279-297.
Week 10
10/27
P. S. Churchland, 2002, “Self and Self-Knowledge,” in Brain-wise: Studies in
Neurophilosophy. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, chapter 3.
10/30
Joseph LeDoux, 2003, Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are, New York:
Penguin Books, Chapter 2. 13-32.
Week 11
11/3
Peter. Mandik, 2013, “The Neurophilosophy of Subjectivity,” in John Bickle (Ed.),
Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Neuroscience, New York: Oxford University Press,
601-618.
Note: third paper is due on Tuesday, November 3tr before the start of the class.
Memory
11/6 Tulving, Endel, 2002, “Episodic Memory: From Mind to Brain,” Annual review of
psychology, 53, 1–25.
Week 12
11/10
Dudai, Yadin, “The Neurobiology of Consolidations, Or, How stable is the Engram?”
Ann. Rev. Psychol., 55, (2004): 51-86.
11/13
Schacter L. Daniel, Addis R. Donna, 2007, “The Cognitive Neuroscience of
Constructive Memory: Remembering the Past and Imagining the Future,” Phil. Trans. R.
Soc. B; 362: 773–786.
Week 13
11/17
Conway A., Martin, 2005, “Memory and the Self,” Journal of Memory and Language, 53
(4): 594–628.
11/20
Ethics of Neuroscience and Neuroscience of Ethics
Niel Levy, 2007, Neuroethics: Challenges for the 21st Century, Cambridge University
Press, Chapters 1&9.
Martha J. Farah, 2005, “Neuroethics: the practical and the philosophical,” Trends in
Cognitive Sciences, 9(1):34–40.
Week 14
Free Will
11/24
Libet, B, 2002, “Do We Have Free Will?” in The Oxford Handbook of Free Will, 551564.
Roskies, A., 2006, “Neuroscientific Challenges to Free Will and Responsibility,” Trends
in Cognitive Sciences, 10(9), 419–423.
Note: Term Paper draft is due November 24th.
11/27 No Class Thanksgiving
Week 15
Ethical issues related to neurocognitive Enhancement
12/1
Thomas Metzinger, 2009, What is a Good State Of Consciousness, in The Ego Tunnel,
Chapter 9.
12/4
M. Gazzaniga, 2005, The Ethical Brain. Chicago, Chapter 5, 37-49.
Farah MJ, Illes J, Cook-Deegan R, et al., 2004, “Neurocognitive Enhancement: What Can
We Do And What Should We Do?” Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5:421-425.
Week 16
12/8
A. Buchanan, 2009, “Moral Status and Human Enhancement,” Phil. Pub Af, 37(4): 346381.
Term paper is due on Tuesday, December 8th before the start of the class.