Philosophy of Cognitive and Neuroscience

Postgraduate course 2024/2025

Type: Elective course

Delivered by: School of Philosophy and Cultural Studies

When: 2 year, 1 semester

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Bogdan Faul

Language: English

Contact hours: 32

Full Syllabus Ask Question

Abstract

This course offers an introduction to contemporary cognitive sciences through a philosophical optics, beginning with the philosophy of mind, progressing through the classical computationalist paradigm, and ending with state-of-the-art approaches based on recent advances in cognitive linguistics and neurological research. In this course, students will be introduced to the latest theoretical literature on the topic and cutting-edge scholarship. The course begins with an introduction to the history of the cognitive sciences and to contemporary philosophy of mind; it then reviews the paradigm of classical computationalism and recent computationalism, which are compared to philosophical functionalism; after that, an introduction is made to the current paradigm of cognitive research: experimentalism, the dynamic paradigm, and 4E-cognition.

Learning Objectives

The aim of the course is to form a comprehensive understanding of what is known about human consciousness today, both from the perspective of modern philosophy of mind and from the perspective of other approaches in cognitive research. As a result of the course, the student will develop an understanding of the latest research paradigms in contemporary cognitive sciences.

Expected Learning Outcomes

Analyze the interdisciplinary nature of cognitive research; operate with key concepts in the philosophy of mind.
Analyze arguments for dualism; analyze modal propositions; reconstruct and solve the problem of mental causality; distinguish between necessary and sufficient conditions;
Analyze arguments for and against physicalism; distinguish between types of physicalism; distinguish between functional types; distinguish between access consciousness and phenomenal consciousness;
Reconstruct the halting problem; Reconstruct the Turing machine; Analyze the difference between philosophical functionalism and computationalism; Distinguish Searle's arguments against computationalism.
Analyze the problem of modularity of mind; Apply the methodology of distinguishing levels of analysis of complex systems; Analyze the devices of a neuron; Reconstruct the principles of neural network design.
Reconstruct classical concept theory; Distinguish between artificial and natural languages; Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of prototype theory; Distinguish between Objectivism and Experientialism; Reconstruct approaches within 4E cognition.
Construct a state space; Analyze system attractors; Distinguish between types of attractors; Reconstruct a dynamic theory of consciousness; Analyze a theory of ecological perception;

Course Contents

1. Introduction to the history of cognitive sciences
2. Introduction to the philosophy of mind
3. Physicalist approaches
4. Functionalism and Computationalism
5. Contemporary Computationalism
6. Introduction to the new paradigm of cognitive science.
7. Dynamic cognitive theory

Assessment Elements

Seminar activity
Presentation
Prepare a 10-minute presentation on a topic related to the course that aligns with your scientific interests.

Interim Assessment

2024/2025 1st semester
0.4 * Presentation + 0.6 * Seminar activity

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

A materialist theory of the mind, Armstrong, D. M., 2002
A neurocomputational perspective : the nature of mind and the structure of science, Churchland, P. M., 2000
Chalmers, D. J. (1996). The Conscious Mind : In Search of a Fundamental Theory. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=55770
Cloonan, T. F. (2012). Gallagher, Shaun, and Schmicking, Daniel (Editors). (2010). Handbook of Phenomenology and Cognitive Science. Dordrecht: Springer, ix + 688 pp. Hardcover (ISBN: 978-90-481-2645-3), $249.99. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 43(2), 251–260. https://doi.org/10.1163/15691624-12341239
Cognitive neuroscience : the biology of the mind, Gazzaniga, M. S., 2014
Cognitive pragmatics : mindreading, inferences, consciousness, Mazzone, M., 2018
Cognitive psychology : connecting mind, research, and everyday experience, Goldstein, E. B., 2008
Cognitive science : an introduction to the science of the mind, Bermudez, J. L., 2010
Gallagher, S., & Schmicking, D. (2009). Handbook of Phenomenology and Cognitive Science. Dordrecht: Springer. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=341137
Gomila, A., & Calvo, P. (2008). Handbook of Cognitive Science : An Embodied Approach (Vol. 1st ed). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=248785
Noveck, I. A. (2018). Experimental Pragmatics : The Making of a Cognitive Science. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1813277
Thagard, P. (2009). Why Cognitive Science Needs Philosophy and Vice Versa. Topics in Cognitive Science, 1(2), 237–254. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2009.01016.x
The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Science. Keith Frankish and William Ramsey. Cambridge University Press. 2012

Recommended Additional Bibliography

A commentary on Hegel's philosophy of mind, Inwood, M. J., 2010
Cognitive variations : reflections on the unity and diversity of the human mind, Lloyd, G. E. R., 2009

Authors

Faul Bogdan Vladimirovich

Course Syllabus