HISTORY OF MIND A Capstone course in the Minds, Brains, and Machines GE Theme California State University, Chico Fall 2008

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1 HISTORY OF MIND A Capstone course in the Minds, Brains, and Machines GE Theme California State University, Chico Fall 2008 Course: PHIL PSY Meetings: Tuesday /Thursday 9:30-10:45, MODC 221 Instructors: Dr. Eric Gampel Dr. Eddie Vela Dept. of Philosophy, 115 Trinity Hall Dept. of Psychology, MODC 110 Phone: egampel@csuchico.edu Phone: evela@csuchico.edu Office Hours: MTh 1:15 2:30 Office Hours: TTh 2 3:15 Course Description This course surveys the history of different views about the mind, from Ancient Greek times to the present. Implications for contemporary debates in psychology are discussed. This is an approved General Education course. Course Goals The course will acquaint you with the history of different views about how the mind works, and the implications of those views. Students will learn to: understand different theories of mind and their historical development use concepts from philosophy and psychology to critically evaluate theories of mind and their implications for research, public policy, and everyday life General Education Goals PHIL 363/PSYC 363 fulfills the Capstone requirement for the GE Upper Division Theme, Minds, Brains, and Machines. Along with other courses in the theme, this course: examines the mind from multiple perspectives integrates knowledge from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities addresses a topic of life-long importance To fulfill the Capstone requirement, this course may not be taken earlier than your last semester as a sophomore, and you must receive at least a D. There is a 2500-word writing requirement, which will be met through weekly Think Pieces. Texts: Course Pack, at Sir Speedy (8 th St. and Main, 8-5 M-F, no checks) How the Mind Works, Steven Pinker (AS Bookstore)

2 Course Requirements (1) Exams (two midterms and a final, 25%/25%/30% each). Exams will be based on lectures, and will include multiplechoice, short-answer and longer essay questions. You will have advance study guides. The final is cumulative. See dates in Calendar below. (2) Weekly Think Pieces (20%). Each Thursday at the start of class you are required to turn in a typed double-spaced Think Piece (1-2 pages; pitch font; one-inch margins). Each Think Piece should be based upon the reading(s) for that week; the content should reflect your thoughtful consideration of some aspect of the reading. Think Pieces are not summaries; they should be thoughtful reflections. Usually there will be specific guidelines for a Think Piece. Think Pieces will be graded pass/fail. Do not send us Think Pieces as attachments to an . Each Think Piece not turned in will reduce your Think Piece grade by 10 points (from 100 to 90 to 80 etc.). However, you are allowed two free Think Pieces; that is, you are allowed to not turn in two Think Pieces throughout the semester without penalty. Late Think Pieces will not be accepted.

3 Semester Calendar I. ANCIENT VIEWS 8.26 First day of class (no reading) 8.28 Pojman, Introduction; ***1st Thinkpiece due*** 9.2 Govier, Plato: The Shadows, the Cave, and the Dazzling Sun (Rec: Plato, Phaedo) 9.4 Continued 9.9 Continued 9.11 Govier, Aristotle: Finding the Golden Mean (Recommended: Aristotle, De Animus) 9.16 Continued II. MODERN VIEWS 9.18 Roger Hock, Are You a Natural? 9.23 Govier, Descartes: Are There Rotten Apples in that Basket? (Rec: Descartes, Med I) 9.25 Continued 9.30 ***First Midterm*** 10.2 Robert Bolles, Sensory Physiology and Perceptual Problems 10.7 Continued 10.9 Trudy Govier, Hume: Custom, the Cement of the Universe Continued B.R. Hergenhahn, Voluntarism, Structuralism, and Other Early Approaches to Psychology Ross Stagner, Psychoanalysis Continued Robert Bolles, Behaviorism Continued 11.4 ***Second Midterm*** III. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY: A Contemporary View 11.6 Stephen Pinker, Standard Equipment No Class: Veterans Day Continued (Recommended: Stephen Pinker, Revenge of the Nerds) Stephen Pinker, The Mind s Eye Continued (Recommended: B.R. Hergenhahn, Cognitive Psychology) ***Thanksgiving Break*** 12.2 Stephen Pinker, Good Ideas (to page 333) 12.4 Pojman, Human Nature in Contemporary Theories of the Mind 12.9 Stephen Pinker, Family Values Stephen Pinker, The Meaning of Life FINAL EXAM, Tuesday, 12-1:50 p.m., MODC 221 *************************

4 PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 1. What is the best way to influence people? How can managers increase employee efficiency? Are carrots or sticks more effective, and when is each best? How can a husband convince a wife to spend more time with the kids? How can you convince your boss to give you a raise? What kinds of emotion are most important to consider in motivating someone? What do people need and want from you? 2. What are the best strategies for learning? How can you study to do well on an exam? How can you learn to be better at your job, or to be a good friend or parent? What is the best way to learn a new language? How should you teach your kids? 3. How should you pick friends and lovers? Should you trust first impressions? Can you tell whether someone is lying? What should you look for in friends, or in lovers? What features are most important? 4. What is the best way to work with people? Is friendliness the best policy, or does it make you a pushover? When should you compromise, and when must you hang tough? Should you reward good behaviors, punish bad ones? Should we be surprised when people skirt rules and laws for personal gain, or expect it and try to work around such behavior? Should you hide your true self, or tell everything? 5. How can you be happy? What makes you happy? Are there things you could do to be more happy? How much happiness can you reasonably expect in life? What is happiness? Is it an emotion? Can you change emotions by thinking, or by changing your life, or by taking medications? What are depression and mental illness? Are they maladies of reason or behavior? What is the best strategy for treating mental illness?

5 1. How can we study the mind? THEORETICAL QUESTIONS Is introspection a reliable method? Is the mind beyond the grasp of scientific study? Does philosophy have another way to study the mind? Which theories of mind are being assumed in brain research and the study of artificial intelligence? 2. How does the mind work? What is it to perceive, believe, know, or think about something? What is the role of consciousness in these processes? How much of thinking is rule governed like a computer, and how much is only a matter of learned associations and connections? How could the mind come to recognize that a belief is actually true, or justified? What is it for a mind to be 'intelligent'? 3. What aspects of mind are innate (if any)? Is there a human nature? Are we born with innate drives, personality traits, and/or mental faculties that define and limit who we are? Alternatively, are we completely plastic, molded by upbringing and/or personal choices? How much of who we are is due to nature, and how much is due to nurture? Or is that the wrong way to think about the issue? Is there a real you down deep? If there is a real you, what is it, is it innate, and can you change it? 4. Is the mind divided into parts? Are there different parts to the mind, specialized systems which conflict and operate by different principles? For instance, are feelings and emotions independent of reason? Is the mind a unified whole? What could unify it? Consciousness? A soul? A universal problem-solving capacity? 5. How can we best explain human behavior? Are people free to choose their own paths, or are we causally determined by a combination of genes and environmental influence? Is human behavior best explained by a history of rewards and punishments, or is it best explained by appealing to intentions, desires, beliefs, and reasons for action? What should we assume motivates people and explains their behavior: pleasure and pain, environmental conditioning, personal gain, status, friendship, excellence, altruism, religion?