Roberto Casati and Barry Smith: Introduction to Cognitive Science

Introduction to Cognitive Science

Fall Semester, 1999
Thursday 6-8
141 Park Hall

PHI 575
API 526
LIN 575
CSE 575
PSY 575

1 BS* Sept. 2 The Turing Test and the Chinese Room John Searle, "The Critique of Cognitive Reason", in Alvin I. Goldman, Readings in Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press 1993, 833-848.

2 BS Sept. 9 Philosophy and cognitive science: Historical Introduction

3 BS Sept. 16 Common sense and folk psychology Soya, Carey and Spelke, "Ontological Categories", in Goldman 1993, 461-480.

4 RC Sept. 23 Perception: The role of Objects E. Spelke, "Object Perception", in Goldman 1993, 447-460.

5 RC Sept. 30 Perception: Representative theories I. Biederman, "Visual Object Recognition", in Goldman 1993, 1-21.

6 RC Oct. 7 Perception: Secondary Qualities C.L. Hardin, "Color Subjectivism", in Goldman, 1993, 493-507.

7 BS Oct. 14 The Heritage of Gestalt Psychology S. E. Palmer, "Modern Theories of Gestalt Perception", Mind and Language, 5, 289-323

8 RC Oct. 21 Cognition of Number Karen Wynn, "Evidence Against Empiricist Accounts of the Origins of Numerical Knowledge", in Goldman, 1993, 209-227

9 RC Oct. 28 The Spectrum of Views on Consciousness: Special talk by Talmy L. Talmy, "Fictive Motion in Language and 'Ception'", in Bloom, P., et al. Eds. Language and Space, MIT Press 1996

10 BS Nov. 4 Structures of Consciousness. Special talk by Dipert introducing Nov. 5-6 conference on The Metaphysics of Consciousness: David Chalmers', "The Conscious Mind", in Historical and Contemporary Perspective N.B. This class will take place in the Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Road, Amherst
David Chalmers' website

11 BS Nov. 11 Debate with Little on Eliminative Materialism

12 BS Nov. 18 (nov. 25 holiday) Ecology and Evolutionary psychology Cosmides and Tooby, "Evolutionary Psychology: A Primer"

13 RC Dec. 2 Artificial Intelligence: Debate with Rapaport How to Pass a Turing Test

14 RC Dec. 9 Perception: Spatial cognition and representation. R. Jackendoff, "The Architecture of the Linguistic-Spatial Interface", in Bloom, P., et al. Eds. Language and Space, MIT Press 1996, 1-30.

*Indicates faculty member/visitor having primary responsibility for the class indicated.

Grading: The grade for the course will be based primarily on a term paper, to be submitted on or before December 2. Additional credit can be obtained for active class participation.

Office hours: BS (Park 126) Thursday 5-6 and by appointment. RC: by appointment.

Reading: The required text for the course is Alvin I. Goldman, Readings in Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press 1993.

1 BS*	Sept. 2	The Turing Test and the Chinese Room	John Searle, "The Critique of Cognitive Reason", in Alvin I. Goldman, Readings in Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press 1993, 833-848.
2 BS	Sept. 9	Philosophy and cognitive science: Historical Introduction
3 BS	Sept. 16	Common sense and folk psychology	Soya, Carey and Spelke, "Ontological Categories", in Goldman 1993, 461-480.
4 RC	Sept. 23	Perception: The role of Objects	E. Spelke, "Object Perception", in Goldman 1993, 447-460.
5 RC	Sept. 30	Perception: Representative theories	I. Biederman, "Visual Object Recognition", in Goldman 1993, 1-21.
6 RC	Oct. 7	Perception: Secondary Qualities	C.L. Hardin, "Color Subjectivism", in Goldman, 1993, 493-507.
7 BS	Oct. 14	The Heritage of Gestalt Psychology	S. E. Palmer, "Modern Theories of Gestalt Perception", Mind and Language, 5, 289-323
8 RC	Oct. 21	Cognition of Number	Karen Wynn, "Evidence Against Empiricist Accounts of the Origins of Numerical Knowledge", in Goldman, 1993, 209-227
9 RC	Oct. 28	The Spectrum of Views on Consciousness: Special talk by Talmy	L. Talmy, "Fictive Motion in Language and 'Ception'", in Bloom, P., et al. Eds. Language and Space, MIT Press 1996
10 BS	Nov. 4	Structures of Consciousness. Special talk by Dipert introducing Nov. 5-6 conference on The Metaphysics of Consciousness: David Chalmers', "The Conscious Mind", in Historical and Contemporary Perspective	N.B. This class will take place in the Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Road, Amherst David Chalmers' website
11 BS	Nov. 11	Debate with Little on Eliminative Materialism
12 BS	Nov. 18 (nov. 25 holiday)	Ecology and Evolutionary psychology	Cosmides and Tooby, "Evolutionary Psychology: A Primer"
13 RC	Dec. 2	Artificial Intelligence: Debate with Rapaport	How to Pass a Turing Test
14 RC	Dec. 9	Perception: Spatial cognition and representation.	R. Jackendoff, "The Architecture of the Linguistic-Spatial Interface", in Bloom, P., et al. Eds. Language and Space, MIT Press 1996, 1-30.