Saturday, October 8, 2011

Octophilosophy | The Scientist

Octophilosophy | The Scientist:
"Godfrey-Smith decided to connect this biological concept with his interest in the philosophy of mind, particularly in nonhumans. In 2010, he began a project with Alexandra Schnell, a graduate student at Macquarie University in Sydney, to conduct behavioral observation studies that address whether octopus intelligence differs from that of other species. Do octopuses learn differently? Does the decentralization of neurons mean cephalopods have multiple minds or competing consciousnesses?"

Comprehensive exam questions in philosophy of mind at Tufts

Comprehensive exam questions in philosophy of mind at Tufts:
http://ase.tufts.edu/philosophy/graduate/comps.asp#mind

Monday, October 3, 2011

We're closer to becoming real cyborgs than most people realize

From io9.com: We're closer to becoming real cyborgs than most people realize

Curtis Brown's Philosophy of Mind Final Exam Questions

Curtis Brown's Philosophy of Mind - Final Exam Questions

Philosophy Bro on Zombies, Minds, and Possibility

Philosophy Bro: Mailbag Monday: Zombies, Minds, and Possibility
Excerpt:
So Kripke's Modal Argument and Chalmers' Zombie Argument both rely on the notion of possible worlds that we touched on last week, and they're both arguments against physicalism, the idea that everything can be described in terms of physical properties - if it's not physical, fuck it. It's not real. That's an interesting thesis for philosophers of mind, because it sure seems like consciousness isn't just physical. Descartes famously imagined himself as nothing but a mind - if everything physical ceased to exist, he said he could definitely keep thinking.

Curtis Brown's Philosophy of Mind Syllabus

Curtis Brown's Philosophy of Mind Syllabus