This module is not currently running in 2022 to 2023.
The module will study some of the major works in the history of modern philosophy of cognitive science and artificial intelligence. An indicative list of topics is the Turing test; the Chinese Room argument; the frame problem; connectionism; extended and embodied cognition; artificial consciousness. The approach will be philosophical and critical, and will involve the close reading of texts. Students will be expected to engage critically with the works being studied and to formulate and argue for their own views on the issues covered.
Total Contact Hours: 40
Also available under code PL583 (Level 6)
Essay (3,000 words) – 50%
Report (1,500 words) – 40%
Seminar Performance – 10%
Indicative reading list:
Bechtel, W. (1998). Philosophy of Mind: An Overview for Cognitive Science. Hillsdale, N.J.; Hove: L. Erlbaum Associates
Boden M. (ed.) (1990). The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Boden M. (2008). Mind as Machine: A History of Cognitive Science, Oxford: Clarendon
Clark A. (2008). Supersizing the Mind Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Copeland J. (1993). Artificial Intelligence: A Philosophical Introduction, Oxford: Blackwell
Dreyfus, H. (1992). What Computers Still Can't Do. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
On successfully completing the module Level 5 students will be able to:
Demonstrate their knowledge and critical understanding of some of the major arguments concerning the possibility of machine intelligence;
Engage critically with some of the central philosophical issues in this area concerning the nature of thought and consciousness;
Demonstrate their critical understanding of some accounts of the mind from the cognitive sciences;
Demonstrate the ability to engage in a close critical reading of some of major texts in the philosophy of cognitive science and artificial intelligence.
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