Topics in the Philosophy of Neuroscience

Symbolic Systems 206, Philosophy 206T Mondays, 3:15-5:05 Bldg 200, Rm 107 Professor Paul Skokowski Stanford University Winter 2004 Texts:

Koch, The Quest for Consciousness Tye, Ten Problems of Consciousness

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Neural Reductionism Week 1, Jan. 12th:

Course Overview Patricia Churchland, Can Neurobiology Teach us Anything about Consciousness? Paul and Patricia Churchland, Intertheoretic Reduction: A Neuroscientist's Field Guide

Week 2, Jan. 19th:

* * * * Martin Luther King Holiday - NO CLASS * * * * Gold and Stoljar, A neuron doctrine in the philosophy of neuroscience. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 22(5), (1999).

Neuroethics Week 3, Jan. 26th:

Guest Speaker: Judy Illes, Stanford, From Neuroimaging to Neuroethics Further recommended readings: Judy Illes, et al., Meeting Neuroethical Challenges in Cognitive Enhancement Judy Illes, et al., Neuroethics: Mapping the Terrain

Neural Correlates of Consciousness Week 4, Feb. 2nd:

Guest Speaker: John Searle, UC Berkeley, Consciousness Searle, J. Consciousness. Ann. Rev. Neurosci. 23:557-78, (2000). (Choose Annual Reviews, Neuroscience, to download). Chalmers, Facing up to the Hard Problem of Consciousness, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2(3): 35-40, 1995. Further recommended readings: Searle, J. How to Study Consciousness Scientifically. Brain Research Reviews 16:379-387, (1998). Skokowski, I, Zombie, Consciousness and Cognition, 11(1), 2002.

Week 5, Feb. 9th:

Dan Lloyd, Functional MRI and the Study of Human Consciousness, J. Cog. Neuro. 14(6): 818-831, 2002. Revonsuo, A., Can Functional Brain Imaging Discover Consciousness?, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 8(3):3-23, 2001. Further recommended readings: Rees, Can Philosophy Discover Consciousness in the Brain?, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 8(3): 35-40, 2001. Rees, Kreiman and Koch, Neural Correlates of Consciousness in Humans, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3:261-269, 2002.

Week 6, Feb. 16th:

David Chalmers, What is a Neural Correlate of Consciousness? in Metzinger (ed.), The Neuronal Correlates of Consciousness, MIT (2000) Noë and Thompson, Are There Neural Correlates of Consciousness? Journal of Consciousness Studies (forthcoming). Further recommended readings: Crick and Koch, The Unconscious Homunculus, in Metzinger (ed.), The Neuronal Correlates of Consciousness, MIT (2000) Zeki, Localization and Globalization in Conscious Vision. Ann. Rev. Neurosci. 24:57-86, (2001). (Choose Annual Reviews, Neuroscience, to download)

Externalism Week 7, Feb. 23rd

Guest Speaker: Alva Noë, UC Berkeley: Experience Without the Head Noë, Experience Without the Head Koch, Ch. 1, 5, and 6 Further recommended readings: Koch, Ch. 2-4

Neuroscience and Consciousness Week 8, March 1st:

Guest Speaker: Christof Koch, Caltech: Neural Correlates of Consciousness Koch, Sec. 14.6, Ch. 16, 18, 19 Further recommended readings: Koch, Ch. 17, Ch. 14

Week 9, March 8th:

Guest Speaker: Bill Newsome, Stanford Neuroscience: Neuroscience, Vision, and Consciousness Hurley and Noë, Neural plasticity and consciousness, Biology and Philosophy 18:131-168 [2003] Block, Spatial Perception via Tactile Sensation, Trends Cogn Sci. 2003 Jul;7(7):285-286.

Week 10, March 15th:

Tye, Ch. 2, Sec 4.0 - 4.5, Sec 5.0 - 5.3. Further recommended readings: Dretske, Prologue, Ch. 1-3. Skokowski, Review of 'Naturalizing the Mind', Mind and Language, 11(4), (1996).

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