What is the mind? What is its defining characteristic or power? Is it material or spiritual? What is its relation to the rest of nature, particular the animal kingdom? Does the mind begin as a blank slate, or does it contain within it the seeds of knowledge? Is there an unconscious? We will be considering the answers to these and other problems by studying a range of classic texts on the mind in European thought since the seventeenth century.
This is a philosophical course which is intended to be accessible to students studying any other subject in the humanities.
This course will be conducted in English.
Podmínky zakončení předmětu - angličtina
Poslední úprava: UFRHILL (21.09.2016)
Course Requirements:
Students who wish to gain credits for the course must meet two requirements:
(i) Attendance at the seminar each week. More than three absences will make one ineligible for the grade.
(ii) A short essay in English of 500-1,000 words on one subject from the course. The essay should show knowledge of the philosophical position under examination as discussed in the class. The essay must be handed in by December 1st, 2016 on paper. Electronic versions are not acceptable, nor is work coming in after the deadline.
It should be noted that there will be routine checks for plagiarism and the presence of plagiarised material in an essay will disqualify the student from this course.
Literatura - angličtina
Poslední úprava: UFRHILL (10.02.2016)
Texts René Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) Benedikt Spinoza, Ethics (1677) John Locke, An Essay on Human Understanding (1690) George Berkeley, A Treatise on the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710) Gottfried Leibniz, Monadology (1714) Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason (1781) Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation (1818) Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man (1871) Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (1886) Sigmund Freud, The Unconscious (1915) John Searle, Reductionism and the Irreducibility of Consciousness (1992) Noam Chomsky, The Mysteries of Nature: How Deeply Hidden? (2009)
