PHIL 551 Philosophy of Mind (Graduate Seminar)
I'll ask for some grad student feedback before settling on a topic, but it will probably be one of the following:
(1) Mental time travel—how to think about the relationship between memory, prediction, and imaginative thinking.
(2) The origins of concepts. This would be organized around my forthcoming book The Building Blocks of Thought, which defends a rationalist approach to the origins of concepts in the context of a comprehensive update to the debate about innate ideas.
(3) Language and thought. How are they related? Does thinking require language or is language merely a tool for communication? Does acquiring a language reconfigure the mind? Does language derive from a specialized psychological faculty? What can we learn about the mind from examining the way language works?
Permission is required to take this course for students who are not members of the Philosophy graduate program. Please e-mail me for further information.
(1) Mental time travel—how to think about the relationship between memory, prediction, and imaginative thinking.
(2) The origins of concepts. This would be organized around my forthcoming book The Building Blocks of Thought, which defends a rationalist approach to the origins of concepts in the context of a comprehensive update to the debate about innate ideas.
(3) Language and thought. How are they related? Does thinking require language or is language merely a tool for communication? Does acquiring a language reconfigure the mind? Does language derive from a specialized psychological faculty? What can we learn about the mind from examining the way language works?
Permission is required to take this course for students who are not members of the Philosophy graduate program. Please e-mail me for further information.