| II. Moral
Responsibility, continued |
| For this date |
Reading to do |
Things to do |
Submit Deadline |
| Tue. 3/21 |
Machina, Sections VI and VII, packet |
Think about whether you agree with the various
arguments being presented. What is the most reasonable thing to think
about these matters? |
-- |
| Thur. 3/23 |
Review Sec VI and VII |
Make a written list of two or three issues
related to the readings so far that you would like to talk about.
These could be questions or objections. Bring this with you to share
and turn in. |
Thur. 3/23 |
| Tue. 3/28 |
Machina, Sections VIII and IX, packet |
In this reading, there is a proposal for how we
could continue to think of people as being morally responsible even if they
do not have cc free will and even if they are not self-determined. Try
to understand the proposal. |
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| Thur. 3/30 |
Review the moral responsibility readings as
needed. |
Begin detailed thinking about what you will say
in your Essay #2, so that you can raise relevant questions in class.
Here is the topic assignment page.
Here are some ideas for strategies
to construct good examples for your essay. |
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| III.
Minds, brains, and thoughts |
| Don't forget
to move your clocks and watches forward an hour. Daylight time begins
very early on Sunday. |
| Tue. 4/4 |
Read "Why I Wrote This Book" and get
the main ideas in Chapter 1, both from Searle's book, Mind. |
Essay #2 due. Instructions are posted
above. |
Essay #2 due. |
| Find out about John Searle's famous "Chinese
room argument" from the Web. Try
this link,
for example. There may be a little quiz on this. |
-- |
| Thur. 4/6 |
Reread Chapter 1, and take a look at Chapters 2
and 3 in Searle. |
Here is a study
guide to follow in reading Chapter 1. There are some suggestions for
writing included in the guide, but these are not to turn in. |
-- |
| Tue. 4/11 |
Chapter 2, to page 43, Searle. |
Here is a
study guide that may help a bit with the reading. |
-- |
| Thur. 4/13 |
Finish Chapter 2, Searle. Don't get bogged
down in technicalities. Look for the main points. |
Here is a study guide/exercise set you really
need to work through before class. We go through all this together in
class. There will be a little quiz. |
Quiz Thur. 4/13 |
| Tue. 4/18 |
Read the beginning portion of Searle, "Minds,
Brains, and Programs" found
here. |
Read enough to understand the basic setup of the
Chinese Room argument. (About two pages.) |
-- |
| Try a conversation with Eliza, online, by
clicking here. |
Eliza is a famous computer program developed
some years ago to mimic the type of responses one might get from a
psychotherapist. Play around with this, to get a feel for how it
works. |
-- |
| Play the online game, "Last One Loses", found on
the ISU Mind Project Web site,
here. |
This is a simple computer game, meant to
illustrate a point: a computer can be set up so that it can "learn" how to
do something better. So, to get this point you have to play both
versions of the game, repeatedly. In the first version, the computer
already has been programmed so that it plays as well as it is possible to
play. In the second version, the computer has NOT been programmed to
follow any particular playing strategy. It will learn from its
mistakes, and get better at beating you if you play multiple times. |
-- |
| Begin reading Searle, Chap. 3 |
Look for Searle's commentary about the idea that
computers can have mental properties. Can computers potentially think,
feel, be conscious? |
-- |
| Thur. 4/20 |
Finish Searle, Chap. 3. If you don't
understand each and every argument, don't quit. Just go on to the next
one. Make sure to read the Conclusion of the chapter. |
We may not have time to go through each of the
arguments Searle gives, so you should note the ones you most want to talk
about in class. You may also find it interesting to read more of the
"Minds, Brains, and Programs" article that was assigned above. This time
we really will have a little quiz, dealing with the main ideas of computer
functionalism and the objections to it. |
Quiz Thur. 4/20 |
| Tue. 4/25 |
Reread Searle's essay, found
here. |
Try to pay very close attention to the details
of the arguments in this essay, in which Searle present the Chinese Room
argument. You may eventually get bogged down, but give it a good try. |
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| Thur. 4/27 |
Read
this summary. Review Searle
as needed. |
Here is the final
essay assignment. |
Tue. 5/9 |
| Tue. 5/2 |
|
|
|
| Thur. 5/4 |
Searle, pp. 91-92 and 105-111 |
The quizzes from Tue. will be handed back in
class. We can discuss the issues raised by the essay topic. The
reading listed for today will serve as a great summary of the way Searle
looks at things. |
-- |
| Tue. 5/9 |
There is no in-class final exam. |
Essay #3 due by 4 pm. Turn in at STV 333A;
slip under the door if no one is there. Note that this deadline
differs from that published in the syllabus in the packet. |
Essay #3 due. |
| To those graduating,
congratulations! To others, have a good break between
semesters. Keep safe. |
