(in Polish) Philosophy of Mind

obligatory courses

The main topics addressed in the tutorial will concern the contemporary problems relevant to both the analytical and phenomenological approach to the philosophy of mind. The issues to be covered include:

(1) The problem of perception; (2) Intentionality of the mental; (3) The nature of consciousness; (4) Various forms of reductionism and anti-reductionism in the philosophy of mind; (5) The role of a phenomenological approach to the philosophy of mind; (6) The application possibilities of the philosophy of mind (e.g. philosophy of psychiatry); (7) Chief categories used to describe the mental; (8) Thinking and the role of concepts; (9) Mental causation; (10) Mind and language; (11) Functionalism; (12) Computational theories of the mind, strong and weak AI.

The tutorial will consist of two parts: a lecture part (15 h, every two weeks, by Marcin Poręba) and an exercise part (30 h, every week, by Martyna Iwanicka). Each of these parts will focus on one of the two contemporary traditions relevant to the philosophy of mind: the lecture part on the analytical, and the exercise part on the phenomenological tradition and its ramifications. However, due to sometimes very close relationships between phenomenological and analytical approaches to the mind, both lecture and exercise parts of the course will to some extent feature topics from both traditions.

The aim of the lecture, besides introducing topics in the analytic philosophy of mind, will be to outline the general conceptual framework for philosophy of mind, relevant for both traditions and reflecting their in part common origins.

The exercise part will be dedicated to a more non-reductive approach to the philosophy of mind based on phenomenological heritage. The direction of our considerations will be determined by the book "The Phenomenological Mind" (Gallagher & Zahavi, 2012). Although during the exercise part we will focus primarily on the contemporary approach to problems relevant to the philosophy of mind, the phenomenological founding texts for this field will also be included (e.i. Brentano, Husserl, Merlau-Ponty).

The topics discussed during the exercise part will revolve around the issues of: (1) Consciousness (e.g. its phenomenological sources and understanding, its relation to time, embodied consciousness, the context of the so-called easy and difficult problem of consciousness); (2) The embodied mind (e.g. mind-body problem, the phenomenology of embodiment); (3) Intentionality (e.g. its definition, its role, the intentional object, the context of qualia); (4) Perception (e.g. the role of the first-person perspective); (5) Reductionism and anti-reductionism (e.g. the question of the naturalization of phenomenology); (6) Intersubjectivity (e.g.a matter of analogy, empathy); (7) The application possibilities of the philosophy (e.g. phenomenology of psychopathology on selected examples);

The full list of readings discussed during the exercise part will be provided on the first meeting.

(1) Brentano, Psychology form an empirical standpoint;

(2) Chalmers D. J., Facing up to the problem of consciousness;

(3) Dahlstrom D. O. et al., Philosophy of Mind and Phenomenology: Conceptual and Empirical Approaches (Routledge Research in Phenomenology);

(4) Fuchs T., Corporealized and disembodied minds: a phenomenological view of the body in melancholia and schizophrenia;

(5) Fulford K. W. M et al., The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Psychiatry;

(6) Gallagher S. et al., Handbook of Phenomenology and Cognitive Science;

(7) Gallagher S., Zahavi D., The Phenomenological Mind;

(8) Graham G., The Disordered Mind: An Introduction to Philosophy of Mind and Mental Illness;

(9) Husserl E., Cartesian Meditations;

(10) Husserl E., On the Phenomenology of the Consciousness of Internal Time;

(11) Lowe J., An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind;

(12) Merleau-Ponty M.,The Phenomenology of Perception;

(13) Pokropski M., Mechanisms of consciousness;

(14) Ratcliffe M., Experiences of depression. A study in phenomenology;

(15) Stanghellini G. et al., The Oxford Handbook of Phenomenological Psychopathology;

(16) Zahavi D., Naturalized phenomenology: A desideratum or a category mistake?

(17) Zahavi D., The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Phenomenology.

K_W02: students have a basic knowledge of the place and importance of the philosophy of mind in relation to sciences, and of the objective and methodological specificity of this field of philosophy;

K_W03: students consolidate and enrich their vocabulary and improve fluency in English at C1 CEFR level;

K_W07: students have structured detailed knowledge within the philosophy of mind;

K_U03: students are able to read and interpret moderately difficult to difficult philosophical texts in the philosophy of mind;

K_U05: students correctly use the acquired terminology from the philosophy of mind;

K_U07: students analyze arguments from the philosophy of mind, identifies their key theses and assumptions, and detects dependencies between their theses and assumptions;

K_U10: students reconstruct the main theses of the studied statements from the philosophy of mind, according to their relevance;

K_U14: students select argumentation strategies, construct critical arguments at the elementary level, formulate responses to criticism;

K_K01: students are ready to assess the scope of their knowledge and skills, understand the need for continuous training and professional development;

K_K02: students are open to new ideas and able to reconsider their own beliefs in the light of arguments stemming from others;

Lecture: Written exam (from the content from both the lecture and exercise part).

Exercise part: To pass the exercise part required is (1) activity during classes; (2) preparation and presentation of a paper on one of the discussed texts ;(3) submission of a short essay based on this presentation.

Acceptable number of missed classes without formal explanation: 2