PHIL 2621

PHIL 2621

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

Throughout history, metaphors drawn from technology of the time have been proposed to understand how the mind works. While Locke likened the newborn's mind to a blank slate, Freud compared the mind to hydraulic and electro-magnetic systems. More recently, many have endorsed Turing's proposal that the mind is a computer. Why is this idea attractive and what exactly is a computer? Is it at all plausible that the cells of your brain are computing? Could a computer ever really have a mind, beliefs, emotions and conscious experiences? What are these mysterious things anyway? Could a machine ever count as a person and make choices based on its own free will? Is it really so clear that we have this kind of free will?


Distribution Requirements (KCM-AG), (ETM-AS)

Last 4 terms offered (None)

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: COGST 2621

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 19341 PHIL 2621   LEC 001

    • TR
    • Aug 25 - Dec 8, 2025
    • Starr, W

    • TBA
    • Aug 25 - Dec 8, 2025
    • Starr, W

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

  • 19343 PHIL 2621   DIS 201

    • W
    • Aug 25 - Dec 8, 2025
    • Staff

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

  • 19346 PHIL 2621   DIS 202

    • W
    • Aug 25 - Dec 8, 2025
    • Staff

  • Instruction Mode: In Person