A Story of the Mind - AFSV00289

• Title: A Story of the Mind
• Guaranteed by: Institute of Philosophy and Religious Studies (21-UFAR)
• Faculty: Faculty of Arts
• Actual: from 2020
• Semester: winter
• Points: 0
• E-Credits: 5
• Examination process: winter s.:
• Hours per week, examination: winter s.:2/0, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: unknown / unknown (70)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: not taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Additional information: https://dl1.cuni.cz/enrol/index.php?id=4226
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: prof. James Hill, Ph.D.
• Class: Exchange - 08.1 Philosophy

Annotation

Last update: prof. James Hill, Ph.D. (11.09.2019)

A Story of the Mind (AFSV00289)
James Hill

What is the mind? What is its defining characteristic or power? Is it constituted by matter or a spiritual substance? What is the relation of the human mind to the rest of nature, particularly the animal kingdom? Does the mind begin as a blank slate, or does it always have within it the seeds of knowledge? Is there an unconscious realm within the mind?

Modern philosophers, since Descartes, have given a variety of answers to these questions. We will be considering these answers as they appear in a range of classic texts in European thought since the seventeenth century. We will trace a developing view of the mind from Descartes to the modern day, looking for continuities between the different conceptions, and developing a narrative or ‘story’ of reflection on the mind. This story will also take in thinkers who are usually thought to be natural scientists rather than philosophers, including Darwin, Freud and Chomsky.

This introductory course is intended not so much for students majoring in philosophy as for students studying any subject in the humanities.

Literature

Last update: prof. James Hill, Ph.D. (21.09.2018)

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) 
Noam Chomsky, The Mysteries of Nature: How Deeply Hidden? (2009)

Requirements to the exam

Last update: prof. James Hill, Ph.D. (11.09.2019)

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 700-1,300 words on one subject from the course. The essay should discuss one thinker appearing in the course, and examine the view of the mind in their work. The essay should make reference to the text as discussed in class and available on Moodle. The essay must be handed in by December 1st, 2019 on paper (I have a pigeonhole in room 223). 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.