version 2009-09-06
COGS Q540 Philosophical Foundations of Cognitive Science
Fall 2009 Schedule and Syllabus
Meeting time: MW 2:30-3:45; Location: PY 113
Instructor
(Prof.) Colin Allen <colallen@indiana.edu> Goodbody Hall 113, 855-8916, web
Office hours: Wednesdays after CogLunch until class (location tba), and by appointment
Course Description
The cognitive sciences began with great enthusiasm for the prospects of a successful multi-disciplinary attack on the mind. This enthusiasm was fueled by the faith that computational ideas could put flesh on abstract notions of mental representation, providing the means to make good physical sense of questions about the nature of mental information processing. The challenges of understanding how minds work have turned out to be much greater than many of the early enthusiasts predicted — in fact they have turned out to be so great that many (especially here at IU) have argued that we need new paradigms to replace the standard computationalist-representationalist assumptions of traditional cognitive science. This course aims to provide an understanding of the philosophical issues underlying this discussion and to apply this understanding to a specific cutting edge topic. For Fall 2009 that issue will be the relationship of neural mechanisms to cognitive explanations.
Texts
Course Objectives
By the end of this course you should have broad knowledge of the history, philosophy and major concepts and trends in cognitive science, along with an appreciation for the philosophical issues that motivated the emergence of cognitive science and underlie the controversies within it. By the end of the course you should have the ability to read works written for professional academic cognitive scientists and philosophers of cognitive science, and to summarize them accurately both orally and in writing using your own words. You should also be able to relate foundational issues in cognitive science to your own research interests.
Grading Basis
Grades will be based holistically on overall performance in the following five categories:
* Weekly reaction pieces. Identify which items you have read from the reading list for the previous two preceding class periods, and write a one page reaction to at least one of them. This should not be a summary or restatement of the reading. Rather, write an argumentative response to something you read. What did you like or dislike most about the idea(s)? How good was the argument that was presented? (See calendar below for due dates.)
** All students will be scheduled to give a classroom presentation. Also, if you do not speak up regularly during class discussions, you may also be gauged by an oral exam to be scheduled at the instructor's discretion during finals week.
Schedule of Readings and Presentations
Articles for the first part of the semester are available to you via the links below for your personal use under fair use doctrine. Book chapters from Bechtel are B#. This schedule may be altered in response to events in class. [Items in brackets are suggested/optional readings.]
Date | Topic | Readings, Assignments, Tests | Notes and Events |
---|---|---|---|
Week 1 | |||
Aug 31 | Organization and Overview | ||
Sep 02 | Cognitive Prehistory | • Descartes Meditations I & II (alt. version: pdf) • Hume Enquiry section 2 and section 3 • Tolman (1948) html pdf | [CA] |
Week 2 | |||
Sep 07 | Beyond Behaviorism | • Chomsky (1959/1967) html pdf • Shepard & Metzler (1971) jstor pdf • Goldstone & Kersten (2003) pdf | [CA] Reaction1 due |
Sep 09 | Turing Machines & Computational Theory of Mind | • TM Wikipedia or SEP • SEP "Computational Theory of Mind" html • [Clark 1] | [WT] |
Week 3 | |||
Sep 14 | AI as Empirical Enquiry | • Newell & Simon (1975) pdf • Schank & Abelson (1977) pdf • [Clark 2] | [JH] Reaction2 due |
Sep 16 | Turing Test & Chinese Room | • Turing (1950) html pdf • Searle (1980) html | [AM-N] |
Week 4 | |||
Sep 21 | Functionalism | • Fodor (1974) pdf • Marr (1981) pdf • Block (1996) pdf • [Clark 3] | [AP] Reaction3 due |
Sep 23 | Instrumentalism & Rational Believers | • Dennett (1981) pdf • Tversky & Kahneman (1974) jstor pdf • Todd & Gigerenzer (2007) pdf | [JB] |
Week 5 | |||
Sep 28 | Eliminativism and Connectionism | • Pollack (1989) pdf • Ramsey et al. (1991) jstor pdf • Churchland 2005 preprint pdf • [SEP "Connectionism" html] • [Clark 4] | [BK-K] Play with Backprop simulator Reaction4 due |
Sep 30 | Theory of mind: Infants and Animals | • Wimmer & Perner (1983) pdf • Santos et al. (2007) pdf preprint • Allen (in press) pdf preprint • [SEP entry "Simulation theory" html] | [LP] |
Week 6 | |||
Oct 05 | Embodiment | • Brooks (1991) pdf • Clark (1998) pdf • Barsalou, Smith & Breazeal (2006) pdf • [Clark 5] | [LC] Reaction5 due |
Oct 07 | no class | ||
Week 7 | |||
Oct 12 | Dynamical Systems | • Van Gelder (1995) pdf • Beer (2000) pdf • Harvey et al. (2005) pdf • [Clark 6 & 7] | [BK] Reaction6 due |
Oct 14 | Naturalism and Mechanism | B1 | [RC] |
Week 8 | |||
Oct 19 | Naturalism and Mechanism | B1 | [CA] Reaction7 due |
Oct 21 | Mental Phenomena to Operations | B2 | [DB] |
Week 9 | |||
Oct 26 | no class | Early paper proposals encouraged! | |
Oct 28 | no class | ||
Week 10 | |||
Nov 02 | Mental Phenomena to Operations | B2 | [CA] Paper proposal due |
Nov 04 | Working Parts to Operations | B3 | [BR] |
Week 11 | |||
Nov 09 | Working Parts to Operations | B3 | [CA] Reaction8 due |
Nov 11 | Reduction and Independence of Higher-Level Sciences | B4 | [TL] |
Week 12 | |||
Nov 16 | Reduction and Independence of Higher-Level Sciences | B4 | [AP] Reaction9 due |
Nov 18 | Representations and Mental Mechanisms | B5 | [T(WS)C] |
Week 13 | |||
Nov 23 | Representations and Mental Mechanisms | B5 | [LP] Paper draft due |
Nov 25 | no class | (Thanksgiving) | |
Week 14 | |||
Nov 30 | From Responsive to Active Mechanisms | B6 | [AS] Reaction 10 due |
Dec 02 | From Responsive to Active Mechanisms | B6 | [CA] |
Week 15 | |||
Dec 07 | Confronting Mechanism's Critics | B7 | [RI] |
Dec 09 | Confronting Mechanism's Critics | B7 | [CA] |
Finals Week | |||
Dec 14 | Final paper due |
Statement for Students with Disabilities
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal
anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights
protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this
legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed
a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of
their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an
accommodation, please contact IU Disability Services for Students.
Statement about Academic Misconduct
University rules concerning academic misconduct will be
rigorously enforced in this class. See IU Code of Ethics, Part II for details.