Problems of Consciousness

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

We will survey several problems or purported problems of consciousness or its study, including the hard problem, illusion problem, meta-problem, problem of AI consciousness, and problem of other minds. We will read several classic papers in the philosophy of mind and some works criticizing these papers, as well as more recent work in the philosophy of mind and the cognitive sciences. We will cover many views of the nature of mind and its relationship to the world, including standard physicalism, substance and property dualism, idealism, panpsychism, illusionism, and epistemic or mysterian approaches to mind. We will also address questions concerning the relationship between consciousness and value (ethical, aesthetic, existential), especially in light of recent and projected advances in AI.