Mental Representation Seminar
Note: The first lecture will be held
Monday, September 10, at 1pm in HH357. At this meeting we will arrange the time
and place for the remaining lectures.
Course Title: Mental Representations (Phil
473/673)
Instructor: Chris Eliasmith (eliasmith@uwaterloo.ca,
HH 331, x2638)
Books:
1. Fodor, J. A. (1987).
Psychosemantics: The problem of Meaning in the philosophy of mind. MIT Press.
2. Cummins, R. (1996). Representations,
targets and attitudes. MIT Press.
Readings: (To be made available as needed.)
1.
Eliasmith, C. (2001). Introduction
to Contemporary Theories of Content. Unpublished.
2. Pitts, D. (2000) 'Mental
Representation'. Online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mental-representation/.
3. Harman, G. (1982). 'Conceptual Role
Semantics.' Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic. 23: 242-256.
4. Dretske, F. (1983). 'Precis of
Knowledge and the Flow of Information'. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 6:
55-63.
5. Dretske, F. (1988). Representational
Systems. In Explaining Behavior: Reasons in a World of Causes. MIT Press.
Chapter 3.
6. Block, N. (1986). 'Advertisement for
a Semantics for Psychology'. Midwest Studies in Philosophy. P. French,
T. Uehling and H. Wettstein. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press. X:
615-678.
7. Field, H. (1977). 'Logic, Meaning,
and Conceptual Role.' Journal of Philosophy 74: 379-409.
8.
Fodor, J. and E. Lepore (1992). Holism:
A Shopper's Guide. Blackwell. Chs. 1 and 6.
9.
Eliasmith,
C. (2000). How Neurons Mean: A Neurocomputational Theory of Representational
Content. Ph. D. Thesis. Washington University in St. Louis. Chs. 7 and
8.
Homepage: http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~celiasmi/courses/Phil600Repn/
Course Description: This is a upper level survey course
of contemporary theories of mental representation.
Schedule:
|
Week |
Readings |
Topic/Notes |
|
1 (9/13) |
Course Outline Read: Eliasmith (2001) (pdf) |
Introduction |
|
2 (9/20) |
Propositional Attitudes Read: Fodor (1987), Ch. 1 |
Psychosemantics |
|
3 (9/27) |
Wide and Narrow Content Read: Fodor (1987), Ch. 2; Pitts (2000) |
Twinearth (Greg) |
|
4 (10/4) |
Conceptual Role Semantics Read: Harman (1982); Fodor (1987), Ch. 3 |
Conceptual Role (Jill) |
|
5 (10/11) |
A Causal Theory Read: Dretske (1983) |
Information Theory (Brendan) |
|
6 (10/18) |
Misrepresentation Read: Drestke (1988); Fodor (1987), Ch. 4 |
Misrepresentation (Nancy) |
|
7 (10/25) |
Representational Targets and Error Read: Cummins (1996), Ch. 1, 2, 3 |
Cummins (Joe) |
|
8 (11/1) |
Read: Cummins (1996), Ch. 4, 5, 6 |
(Chris) |
|
9 (11/8) |
Isomorphism Read: Cummins (1996), Ch. 7 |
Isomorphism (Ranil) |
|
10 (11/15) |
Two Factor Theories Read: Block (1986) |
Two Factors (Zora) |
|
11 (11/22) |
Critique of Two Factor Theories Fodor and Lepore (1992), Chs. 1 and 6 |
(Baljinder) |
|
12 (11/29) |
Psychosemantics and Neurosemantics |
Neurosemantics (Matt) |
Grading: The course requires the writing of
a final essay (about 4000 words) plus seminar presentations (not graded but
mandatory).
Fees: There might be a small photocopying fee for any notes handed out to them
during the term (excluding assignments, tests, exams, etc.).
Note on avoidance of academic offenses: All students registered in the
courses of the Faculty of arts are expected to know what constitutes an
academic offense, to avoid committing academic offenses, and to take
responsibility for their academic actions. When the commission of an offense is
established, it will be acknowledged by disciplinary penalties. For information
on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students are directed to
consult the summary of Policy #71 (Student Academic Discipline) which is
supplied in the Undergraduate Calendar (p. 1:11).