FI:V030 Philosophy and Theories of the

V030 Philosophy and Theories of the Mind

Faculty of Informatics
Spring 2001

Extent and Intensity

2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus extra credits for completion). Recommended Type of Completion: z (credit). Other types of completion: k (colloquium).

Teacher(s)

prof. PhDr. Ing. Miloslav Dokulil, DrSc. (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

Timetable

Wed 16:00–17:50 B007

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

Syllabus

Overture to the problem: metaphysical dualism (Descartes). Is man without "soul" a machine only? (La Mettrie.) Reaction on the relativist scepticism concerning the extraordinariness of human life in between of other living organisms (vitalism, teleology). Functionalism as a "modern" response to the problem of the status of the mind as a mediium elaborating information. (Fodor, et al.)
How neurons communicate. Also treating the possibility for man of being only a "vehicle" for the transportation of genetic information (Dawkins).
Can we aspire to overcome solipsism? (Berkeley.) Is not all thinking only a "rather complicated" reaction to external stimuli? (From Pavlov to Skinner.)
Intentionality (its Dennett version). Can we speak about the "specificity" of the human mind? (Is it given by "consciousness"? Searle's solution of the problem. Chalmers' idea of a "fundamental theory". Calvin's cerebral symphony" and his "cerebral code"). Is there anything exclusive in man at all? (Popper's "World 3". Crick's message about his looking for a soul. Churchland's neuron computerization as a representation of our social world. Penrose's metaphor about the "Emperor's New Clothes".)

Language of instruction

Czech

Further Comments

The course is taught once in two years.

The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 1999, Spring 2000.