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This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.
Is the mind a machine? This course explores this question and more. (Figure courtesy of MIT OpenCourseWare.)
Prof. Alex Byrne
24.09
Spring 2007
Undergraduate
This course is an introduction to many of the central issues in a branch of philosophy called philosophy of mind. Some of the questions we will discuss include the following. Can computers think? Is the mind an immaterial thing? Or is the mind the brain? Or does the mind stand to the brain as a computer program stands to the hardware? How can creatures like ourselves think thoughts that are "about" things? (For example, we can all think that Aristotle is a philosopher, and in that sense think "about" Aristotle, but what is the explanation of this quite remarkable ability?) Can I know whether your experiences and my experiences when we look at raspberries, fire trucks and stop lights are the same? Can consciousness be given a scientific explanation?
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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