The course of Philosophy of Mind is part of the program in Cognitive Sciences of Communication and Action (master level) and is included among the characterizing training activities. The course will introduce some central topics in empirically informed philosophy of mind including the functionalist view of the mind, the nature of mental representations, the mechanistic approach to cognitive neuroscience, the naturalization of consciousness and self-consciousness, the possibility of a clinical cognitive neuroscience.
Upon completion of the course students
- will have gained familiarity with some of the most important issues in the philosophy of mind driven by cognitive sciences;
- will be able to critically evaluate different positions on core themes of the course;
- will develop a critical thought on philosophical matters involving the mind, and the ability to build rigorous, clear arguments using an appropriate scientific and philosophical vocabulary.
Upon completion of the course students
- will have gained familiarity with some of the most important issues in the philosophy of mind driven by cognitive sciences;
- will be able to critically evaluate different positions on core themes of the course;
- will develop a critical thought on philosophical matters involving the mind, and the ability to build rigorous, clear arguments using an appropriate scientific and philosophical vocabulary.
teacher profile teaching materials
The consciousness-based mentalism of early introspective psychology, the energy-drive conception of behavior in psychoanalysis and the early ethological school, the anti-mentalism of radical behaviorism, the “cognitive turn,” in which cognitive psychology, classical cognitive science, and computational functionalism took shape, and finally the rapid development of cognitive neuroscience: these theoretical and methodological vicissitudes are reconstructed to enable the student to navigate today’s landscape, in which the very concept of the mind is threatened by ever-new forms of reductionism and behaviorism.
Mutuazione: 20710432 FILOSOFIA DELLA MENTE - LM in Scienze Cognitive della Comunicazione e dell'Azione LM-92 R MARRAFFA MASSIMO
Programme
This course is an introduction to the study of mental phenomena, with a particular focus on its more philosophical aspects—that is, on foundational problems. The approach taken is historical-conceptual: certain metaphysical and epistemological problems will be examined as they have been raised by the development of the sciences of the mind and brain since the nineteenth century.The consciousness-based mentalism of early introspective psychology, the energy-drive conception of behavior in psychoanalysis and the early ethological school, the anti-mentalism of radical behaviorism, the “cognitive turn,” in which cognitive psychology, classical cognitive science, and computational functionalism took shape, and finally the rapid development of cognitive neuroscience: these theoretical and methodological vicissitudes are reconstructed to enable the student to navigate today’s landscape, in which the very concept of the mind is threatened by ever-new forms of reductionism and behaviorism.
Core Documentation
J.D. Greenwood, A conceptual history of psychology: Exploring the tangled web (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2015.