Programme

This course will provide students with an introduction to some of the main topics in philosophy of mind. The course will be broken down into two parts. In the first part, we will look mostly at recent versions of “functionalist” theories of mind. On the basis of that introduction and overview, we shall then discuss a series of very recent debates in the philosophy of mind that centre around the view that the mind is a physical and naturally evolved computational device.

Core Documentation

J.L. Bermúdez - Cognitive Science. An Introduction to the Science of the Mind - Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2020 (III ed.).
S. Dehaene - Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts - Viking Press, New York 2014.
D. Wegner - The Illusion of Conscious Will - MIT Press, Cambridge (MA) 2017 (II ed.).

Type of evaluation

Verification of learning takes place through an oral exam. Is it possible to write a 3,000-word final paper (in Italian or English) to be discussed in the exam. Students are required to get their paper topics approved by the instructor.