COURSE INFORMATION
Lead Instructor	Todd Davies, davies at stanford dot edu Office: Margaret Jacks Hall 460-040C Office Hours: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 10:30-11:55 am
Teaching Assistants	Inbal Arnon, inbalar at stanford dot edu Office Hours: Thursdays 1-2:30 pm in 460-122 Section 1: Tuesdays 5:15-6:05 pm in 160-326 Aurelie Beaumel, abeaumel at stanford dot edu Office Hours: Fridays 3:05-5:05 pm in 460-040A Section 2: Fridays 2:15-3:05 pm in 160-323 Marie-Catherine de Marneffe mcdm at stanford dot edu Office Hours: Mondays 1:15-3:15 in 460-113 Section 3: Mondays 5:15-6:05 pm in 160-317
Time	Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:45 - 4:05 pm
Location	380-380C
Description	The history, foundations, and accomplishments of the cognitive and information sciences, including presentations by leading Stanford researchers in philosophy, computer science, linguistics, psychology, communication, and education. Overview of the issues addressed in the Symbolic Systems major.
Required Work	Quizzes (30%) Each lecture beginning with the 2nd class day will begin with a 10 minute, closed-book/computer/notes quiz covering material from the reading required for that day as well as from the previous lecture. There are 17 quizzes during the quarter, and your top 15 scores will count toward your total quiz grade. No make-up quizzes will be scheduled. Midquarter essay (25%) An in-class, open-book/computer/notes essay exam, covering modules I and II, on Tuesday, May 6.  If you must be absent on the day of the midterm, please contact Inbal at least one week before the midterm. Final essay (40%) An open-book/computer/notes essay exam, covering all four modules, on Tuesday, June 10, 3:30-6:30 P.M.  If you must be absent on the day of the final, please contact Marie at least two weeks before the final. Experimental participation (5%). See the handout about this for more info. NOTE: For approved accommodation needs, contact Aurelie.
Texts	The following are required texts: [MBC] Robert Cummins and Denise Dellarosa Cummins, editors (2000), Minds, Brains, and Computers: The Foundations of Cognitive Science, An Anthology, Blackwell Publishers on reserve at the Tanner Philosophy Library [EOL] Martin Davis (2001), Engines of Logic: Mathematicians and the Origin of the Computer, W.W. Norton and Company on reserve at Green Library under the title The Universal Computer. [GP] Ernest Nagel and James R. Newman (1958), edited and with a new forward by Douglas R. Hofstadter (2001), Gödel's Proof, NYU Press on reserve at Green Library (1958 edition). Additional readings will be made available via web links, on a password protected basis when necessary.  The reading level is heavy, and it is important not to fall behind. The quizzes should help to push you along.
Sections	Each student should sign up for one 50-minute section per week.  Sections will be led by the TAs, and are intended as assistance in understanding the readings and lectures in preparation for the midquarter and final essay exams.  Sign up for a section on Coursework (http://coursework.stanford.edu) no later than April 7.  Sections begin Tuesday, April 8.
Wiki	Check out and post to the course wiki for interesting supplementary readings, audio, and video files.  The wiki is at http://symbsys100-2008.pbwiki.com.
Discussion List	Post and read questions about the course on the course discussion list.  Archives and subscriber info are available at https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/symbsys100-discuss.
Links	Here are some links you may find useful: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy The MIT Encyclopedia of Cognitive Sciences Wikipedia (check references to verify what you read there)

		SCHEDULE
Module	Date	Main Lecturer	Topic and Readings
	4/1	TD	Intro and Overview  outline   slides Handouts: Example of highlighting and margin writing when reading
I. Can Computers Think?	4/3	TD	Mind, Body, and World  Quiz#1  outline   slides Descartes (1641), translated by Rubin (1985), Meditations on First Philosophy, Meditations II and VI [pdf-for-assignment] Kant (1783), translated by Carus (1902), Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics, Second Part (section 32) [pdf-for-assignment] Ryle (1949), Descartes' Myth, The Concept of Mind, chapter 1  [pdf-for-assignment] Nagel (1974), What Is It Like to Be a Bat?  [pdf] Chalmers (1995/2002), The Puzzle of Conscious Experience; plus  Crick and Koch (1995/2002), Why Neuroscience May Be Able to Explain Consciousness
	4/8	TD	Mind, Body and World (continued); Logic and Machines   Quiz#2   outline   slides   Section week 1 handout Aristotle (350 BCE), translated by Jenkinson, Prior Analytics, Book I (Parts 1-3)  [pdf-for-assignment] Leibniz (1703), translated by Strickland (2007), Explanation of Binary Arithmetic   [pdf] EOL, chapters 1, 2, 3, and 7
	4/10	Solomon Feferman	The Limits of Logic and Computation   Quiz#3   slides GP Handouts: Symbolic Systems Forum (Symbsys 10) Schedule, Spring 2008 "Graduate School" Field trip to Berkeley April 18
	4/15	Nils Nilsson	Human-Level AI and the Turing Test    Quiz#4   slides   Section week 2 handout Turing (1950), Computing Machinery and Intelligence, MBC chapter 10  [pdf] Searle (1980), Minds, Brains, and Programs, MBC, chapter 9  [ocr-draft-with-references] EOL, chapter 9 Nilsson (2005), Human Level AI? Be Serious! Dennett (2007), A Clever Robot
II. Is Language Innate?	4/17	Krista Lawlor	Nativism and Empiricism   Quiz#5   outline-notes Plato (380 BCE), Meno, Stephanus Numbers 70a-90e [pdf-for-assignment] Locke (1690), Essay Concerning Human Understanding,  Book II (chapter 1, sections 1-9)  [pdf-for-assignment] Leibniz (1704/1764), translated by Bennett (2006), New Essays on Human Understanding, Book I (chapters i and iii) and Book II (chapter i - first two pages) Hume (1748), An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Sections II-V   [pdf-for-assignment] Handouts: Experimental Requirement
	4/22	Tom Wasow	Grammar and Learnability   Quiz#6   slides    Section week 3 handout Skinner (1957), A Functional Analysis of Verbal Behavior, Verbal Behavior, pp. 1-12 [pdf] Chomsky (1959), with preface (1967), A Review of B.F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior Chomsky (1967), Recent Contributions to the Theory of Innate Ideas, MBC, chapter 28 [pdf] Putnam (1967), The "Innateness Hypothesis" and Explanatory Models in Linguistics, MBC, chapter 29 [pdf] Chomsky (1969), Linguistics and Philosophy, MBC, chapter 30 [pdf]
	4/24	James McClelland	Language Acquisition: Computational Modeling   Quiz#7  lecture-handout P. M. Churchland (1990), Cognitive Activity in Artificial Neural Networks, MBC, chapter 12 [pdf] Rumelhart and McClelland (1986), On Learning the Past Tenses of English Verbs, MBC, chapter 14 [pdf] Pinker and Prince (1989), Rules and Connections in Human Language, MBC, chapter 18 [pdf] Elman (1990), Finding Structure in Time
	4/29	Eve Clark	Language Acquisition: Experiments and Observations   Quiz#8   slides    Section week 4 handout Wexler (1994), On the Argument from Poverty of the Stimulus [pdf] Pullum and Scholz (2002), An Empirical Assessment of Poverty of the Stimulus Arguments [pdf] Tomasello (2003), Usage-Based Linguistics, Constructing a Language, chapter 1 [pdf] E. Clark (2003), Review of Constructing a Language [pdf]
III. Are People Generally Rational?	5/1	TD	Probability and Decision Theory   Quiz#9  notes Pascal (1670), translated by Warrington (1937), The Wager, Thoughts, Article 343 Skyrms (1986), Choice and Chance: An Introduction to Inductive Logic, chapters V [pdf] and VII [pdf] North (1968), A Tutorial Introduction to Decision Theory [pdf]
	5/6	Midquarter Essay	In-class, open book   info   study-questions   answer-guide
	5/8	Brian Skyrms	Evolutionary Game Theory   Quiz#10  slides   Section 5 handout Hargreaves Heap, Hollis, Lyons, Sugden, and Weale (1992), Game Theory, The Theory of Choice: A Critical Guide, chapter 7 [pdf] Lewis (2002), Convention and Communication, Convention, chapter IV [pdf]
	5/13	TD	Judgment and Decision Behavior   Quiz#11  slides-ppt  slides-pdf Tversky and Kahneman (1974), Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases Tversky and Kahneman (1981), The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice Chase, Hertwig, and Gigerenzer (1998), Visions of Rationality
	5/15	Samuel McClure	Neuroscience and Decision Making   Quiz#12   slides   Section 6 handout Kandel (2000), Principles of Neural Science, chapters 1 [pdf] and 2 [pdf] Churchland and Sejnowski (1992), The Computational Brain: Anatomical and Physiological Techniques, MBC, chapter 23 [pdf] Schultz (2007), Reward
IV. Is Information Technology Prosocial?	5/20	TD	People and Technology   Quiz#13   slides-ppt   slides-pdf Smith (1776), edited by Cannan (1904), How the Commerce of the Towns Contributed to the Improvement of the Country, The Wealth of Nations, Book III, Chapter 4   [pdf] Marx, edited by Engels (1867), translated by Moore and Aveling (1887), The Fetishism of Commodities and the Secret Thereof, Capital, Volume I, Part I, Chapter 1, Section 4   [pdf] McLuhan (1964), Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, pp. 3-9  [pdf] Cialdini (1993), Instant Influence: Primitive Consent for an Automatic Age, Influence: Science and Practice, Chapter 8   [pdf] Surrowiecki (2005), Technology and Happiness: Why Getting More Gadgets Won't Necessarily Increase Our Well-Being
	5/22	TD Clifford Nass	People and Technology (continued); Media, Computers, and Psychology   Quiz#14   slides-Davies-ppt  slides-Davies-pdf slides-Nass   video-Nass   Section 7 handout Reeves and  Nass (1996), The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Television, and New Media Like Real People and Places, chapters 1 and 2   [pdf-need-to-read-first-two-chapters-only] Nass and Brave (2005), Wired for Speech: How Voice Activates and Advances the Human-Computer Relationship, chapters 1 and 2   [pdf] Borges (1939), translated by Irby (1964), Pierre Menard: Author of the Quixote
	5/27	Roy Pea	Computers and Education   Quiz#15   slides Bloom (1984), The 2 Sigma Problem: The Search for Methods of Group Instruction as Effective as One-to-One Tutoring Chan et al. (2006), One-to-one technology-enhanced learning: An opportunity for global research collaboration  [pdf] Koedinger and Corbett (2006), Cognitive Tutors: Technology bringing learning science to the classroom [pdf]
	5/29	TD	Design and Democracy  Quiz#16  slides-ppt   slides-pdf V. Bush (1945), As We May Think Habermas (1964), The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article Skinner (1971), Beyond Freedom and Dignity, pp. 208-215   [pdf] Haraway (1991), A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century   [pdf] Lessig (2000), Code Is Law: On Liberty in Cyberspace Benkler (2006), Conclusion: The Stakes of Information Law and Policy, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, Chapter 12   [pdf]
	6/3	TD	Design and Democracy (continued); Conclusions   Quiz#17   slides-ppt   slides-pdf
	6/10	Final Essay	3:30-6:30 P.M., open book/notes/laptop - no Internet or communication - in 380-380C    study-questions   exam