Thought Experiments: Connecting Literature, Philosophy and the Natural Sciences

Undergraduate

The course looks closely at the intersection of literature, philosophy and natural science through the lens of the thought experiment (suppositional reasoning about What If? scenarios). Do thought experiments yield new knowledge about the world? What role does narrative or scene setting play in thought experiments? Can works of literary fiction or films function as thought experiments? Readings take up topics such as personal identity, artificial intelligence, meaning and intentionality, free will, time travel, the riddle of induction, “trolley problems” in ethics and the hard problem of consciousness. Authors may include Mary Shelley, Plato, Albert Einstein, Iris Murdoch, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Lucretius, Franz Kafka, H.G. Wells, Nelson Goodman, Rene Descartes, Judith Jarvis Thomson, Derek Parfit, Rivka Galchen, Alan Turing, Daniel Dennett, Octavia Butler, as well as films ( Oppenheimer ) and television shows ( Black Mirror ). Students should have taken at least one course involving close analysis of works of literature or philosophy. WR , HU TTh 2:35pm-3:50pm