Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Richard Heersmink
Jean-Philippe Deranty
Lecturer
Jeanette Kennett
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Credit points |
Credit points
3
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
The unit introduces the big philosophical questions about human nature, personal identity and the meaning of life. Are human beings somehow unique in nature? Do we have distinct selves that endure through time? Do we have free will? What is the relation between our identity and the things that matter to us? We take a broadly historical approach, reading the classic philosophical texts as well as contemporary work. Three themes recur across the unit: the relation of mind and body, the quest for knowledge and the nature of the self. We begin with conceptions of the mind at the dawn of the modern period, asking whether mind is entirely physical or could in principle survive bodily death. We also explore the links between the self, time, and memory. The remainder of the unit introduces some key thinkers of the twentieth century; and we explore their views on freedom, lived experience, and our relations to others. The unit as a whole offers a detailed introduction to controversial questions about the nature of the mind, showing how historical understanding animates current debates, and demonstrating the relevance of philosophy to live modern issues about science, human nature, and culture.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
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Three online quizzes | 15% | No | week 4, 8, 12 |
Online forum | 15% | No | Throughout |
Reflective excercise | 15% | No | 7/4 |
First scaffolded essay | 25% | No | 28/4 |
Final scaffolded essay | 30% | No | 11/6 |
Due: week 4, 8, 12
Weighting: 15%
Each quiz will consist of 10 multiple choice questions on the material from weeks 1-4, 5-8 and 9-12. Each quiz is worth 5%. Feedback on the quizzes will be provided in class in week 5, 9, and 13.
Due: Throughout
Weighting: 15%
Online participation for external students will be assessed from week 2 until week 12.
In most weeks, you will be assessed on the basis of your participation in the weekly discussion forum. Marks will be awarded based on participation, preparation and willingness to engage constructively. Discussion questions will be provided to help guide your discussion, and a member of the teaching staff will act as an online tutor. Further details will be available through the forum, and an online participation rubric will be available in iLearn.
In week 7, specific online activities (in which the internal students will also be engaging) will be assessed instead of regular discussion. Further details will be given in the forum.
Due: 7/4
Weighting: 15%
You will write a short reflection of 700 words on the meaning of Plato’s allegory of the cave. You will need to identify the philosophical problem Plato raises, and write a brief reflective response, engaging with material from the unit and reflecting on it. Your reflection should be submitted online via Turnitin. Your reflection will be assessed based on clarity of exposition and understanding. A rubric for the essay will be made available and assessment criteria discussed in class.
Due: 28/4
Weighting: 25%
You will write a short scaffolded essay of 1200 words on Cartesian dualism. This assignment will be to provide an analysis and response to a text by, or concerning, René Descartes (1596-1650). Your analysis will be 'scaffolded' by your answering a series of structured questions, each building on the next. This will allow you to do two things (i) understand the structure and form of a philosophy essay (ii) gauge your understanding of Descartes and the philosophical questions his work raises.
Your essay should be submitted online via Turnitin. Your essay will be assessed based on clarity of exposition, understanding, and argumentation. A rubric for the essay will be made available and assessment criteria discussed in class.
Due: 11/6
Weighting: 30%
You will write a scaffolded essay of 1500 words on a topic from part 2 or 3 of the unit. This assignment will build upon the skills you developed during your first assignment. This assignment will be to provide an analysis and response to a text by one of the philosophers we discuss in weeks 8-12. Your analysis will be 'scaffolded' by your answering a series of structured questions, each building on the next. This will allow you to do two things (i) understand the structure and form of a philosophy essay (ii) gauge your understanding of a particular philosophical topic and the philosophical questions it raises.
Your essay should be submitted online via Turnitin. Your essay will be assessed based on clarity of exposition, understanding, and argumentation. A rubric for the essay will be made available and assessment criteria discussed in class.
A course reader will be made available.
Section 1: History of the mind
1.1 Course Introduction: Teaching staff, content, assessment, etc.
1.2 The first philosophers: The Milesians, Thales
Jonathan Barnes. (1987). Introduction to Early Greek Philosophy (pp. 8-24). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
2 The first philosophers: The Milesians, Thales
Robin Waterfield. (2009). The Milesians, in The First Philosophers (pp. 3-21). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
R.E. Allen (ed.) (1966). Greek Philosophy: Thales to Aristotle (pp. 5-23; pp. 28-33; pp. 36-40). London: Collier McMillan.
3 Plato: Immortal souls and knowledge of ultimate reality
Plato. (1987). The Republic [around 375 B.C.] trans. by Desmond Lee (pp. 226-248; pp. 335-340). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Plato. (1973). Phaedrus in Phaedrus and Letters VII and VIII, trans. Walter Hamilton (pp. 49-61). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
4 Aristotle: The mind and the substance of things
Aristotle. (1986). De Anima (On the Soul), trans. Hugh Lawson-Tancred (pp. 155-163.) Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Aristotle. (1984). Metaphysics (extract from Book IX) in Complete works of Aristotle, revised Oxford Translation, Vol. 2, ed. Jonathan Barnes (pp. 1655-1660). Princeton University Press.
5 Descartes: The mind-body problem
René Descartes. (1996). Second Meditation in Meditations on First Philosophy, with Selections from the Objections and Replies, trans. John Cottingham (pp. 16-23). Cambridge University Press.
Excerpt from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on “René Descartes: The Mind-Body Distinction” URL: http://www.iep.utm.edu/descmind/
Section 2: Personal identity, agency and responsibility
6.1 Will it be me? Parfit and what matters for survival
Derek Parfit. (1984). Chapter 10. What we Believe Ourselves to Be of Reasons and Persons (pp. 199-209). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
6.2 Parfit and the no-self View
Derek Parfit. (1987). Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons. In C. Blakemore and S. Greenfield, eds., Mindwaves: Thoughts on Intelligence, Identity and Consciousness (pp. 19-26). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
7.1 The Body and the boundaries of the self
Meredith W. Michaels. (2004). Persons, Brains and Bodies. In G Lee Bowie, Meredith W. Michaels, and Robert Soloman (eds), Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy (pp. 323-325). Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth.
Jonathan Glover. (1991). The Body and Am I my body?, from I: The Philosophy and Psychology of Personal Identity (pp. 69-87). Penguin Books.
7.2 No lecture due to public holiday
[Mid-semester break]
8.1 Memory, narrative reconstruction and agency
Marya Schechtman. (1994). The Truth About Memory. Philosophical Psychology, 7(1), 3-18.
8.2 A Puzzle case: Multiple personality and personal identity
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Stephen Behnke. (2000). Responsibility in Cases of Multiple Personality Disorder. Noûs, 34(14), 301-323.
9.1 Memory, identity and responsibility
Jeanette Kennett and Steve Matthews. (2003). Identity Control and Responsibility: The Case of Dissociative Identity Disorder. Philosophical Psychology, 15(4), 509-526.
9.2 Experimental philosophy: What do the folk think about identity across time?
Nina Strohminger and Shaun Nichols. (2014). The Essential Moral Self. Cognition, 131(1), 159-171.
Section 3: Free will, consciousness and cognition
10 Free will
George Graham. (1998). Excerpt from chapter 9 of Philosophy of Mind: An Introduction (pp. 175-192). Blackwell Publishers.
11 Consciousness
David Armstrong. (2002). What is Consciousness? In J. Heil (ed.) Philosophy of Mind: A Guide and Anthology (pp. 607-616). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
12 Embodied and extended cognition
Andy Clark & David Chalmers. (1998). The Extended Mind. Analysis, 58(1), 7-19.
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html
Assessment Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy_2016.html
Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html
Complaint Management Procedure for Students and Members of the Public http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/complaint_management/procedure.html
Disruption to Studies Policy (in effect until Dec 4th, 2017): http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html
Special Consideration Policy (in effect from Dec 4th, 2017): https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policies/special-consideration
In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/student_conduct/
Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au.
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