Anotace
Themes in Contemporary Philosophy of Mind
Mind, Consciousness and Evolution
This course will be centred around the controversial new book by Thomas Nagel, "Mind and Cosmos", 2012. In it, Nagel develops themes which have been present in his work on mind for more than thirty years, including the irreducibility of consciousness and the rejection of materialism. A particularly important theme is his critique of a reductive materialistic theory of evolution. Nagel does not, of course, deny that the human mind has emerged from the process of evolution, but he understands the evolution of mind in a way that is significantly different to the prevailing neo-Darwinist orthodoxy. We will also pay careful attention to the neo-Darwinist view, particularly as it is expressed by Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins. Students should expect to come away from this course informed about contemporary philosophical debate on mind and consciousness, and about their relation to evolutionary theory.