PHIL 1670 - PHILOSOPHY OF NEUROSCIENCE

Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
Long Description How can neuroscience explain my subjective experiences? How are the mind and brain connected? Do neuroscience and psychology even relate? Is there a problem of consciousness? Can we read minds? These are some of the questions now occupying the minds of both philosophers of neuroscience and many neuroscientists. However, approaching such questions empirically does not reveal the underlying assumptions one might incorporate into one's thinking when formulating questions, developing experiments, and interpreting results. This course will couple metaphysical theories of mind with contemporary research in both cognitive neuroscience and neurobiology. Throughout the class, we will try to answer some of the questions that popularly occupy contemporary philosophy of neuroscience debates, as well as interrogate and identify, philosophically, where and how these questions, including the research they prompt, arose in the first place. Finally, as neuroscience is a largely tool-driven discipline, students will learn about a range of neurotechnologies and explore whether or not these technologies are likely to get us any closer to reading the mind from the brain. Background in neuroscience is not required.
Academic Career: Undergraduate
Course Component: Lecture
Grade Component: LG/SNC Elective Basis

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