Philosophy Department

Thought's Relation to the World (PHLU 3358)

Bryan Frances
 

Each person can perceive the world, act in the world, and think about, or “represent”, the world. This course is devoted to the third, representative, capacity of the mind. Throughout history most philosophers have tried to give an account of the representative capacity of the mind in terms of states and properties which are, broadly speaking, internal to the subject, whether they be states of the Cartesian soul, brain states, behavioral dispositions, or other internal states. However, recent developments suggest that this presupposition is mistaken: there could be two individuals who throughout their entire lives exist in the very same environment and have all the same brain states, bodily states, behavioral dispositions, and soul properties even though they have different beliefs. We will examine the evidence for and consequences of this recent development. Distribution requirements within the Philosophy major: This course counts in the Metaphysics area.