Syllabus:

The problem of consciousness: Philosophical and empirical aspects, 7.5 credits

The course is discontinued from 2025-05-08

Swedish name: Medvetandets problem: filosofiska och empiriska aspekter

This syllabus is valid: 2016-10-17 and until further notice

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Syllabus for courses starting after 2016-10-17

Syllabus for courses starting between 2010-11-01 and 2016-10-16

Syllabus for courses starting before 2010-10-31

Course code: 1FL075

Credit points: 7.5

Education level: Second cycle

Main Field of Study and progress level: Philosophy: Second cycle, has only first-cycle course/s as entry requirements

Grading scale: Pass with distinction, Pass, Fail

Responsible department: Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies

Revised by: Head of Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, 2021-05-31

Required Knowledge

90 ECTS credits in anthropology, computer science, linguistics, neuro science, philosophy, psychology or some other subject relevant to cognitive science, or similar.Proficiency in English equivalent to Swedish upper secondary course English A (IELTS (Academic) with a minimum overall score of 5.5 and no individual score below 5.0. TOEFL PBT(Paper-based Test) with a minimum total score of 530 and a minimum TWE score of 4. TOEFL iBT (Internet-based Test) with a minimum total score of 72 and a minimum score of 17 on the Writing Section).Where the language of instruction is Swedish, applicants must prove proficiency in Swedish to the level required for basic eligibility for higher studies.

Literature

Valid from: 2019 week 35

1 Introduction

Chalmers David John
The conscious mind : in search of a fundamental theory
New York : Oxford University Press : 1996 : xvii, 414 p. :
ISBN: 9780198026532
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: Introduction + chapter 1. E-version available via UB

Palmer Stephen
Vision Science: Photons to Phenomenology
Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press : 1999 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: Sections 13.2-13.3. Available in Cambro

2 Metaphysical positions

Armstrong David
The nature of mind
Identity Theory, ed. C.V. Borst, London. McMillan : 1970 :
Online at:
Mandatory

Lewis David K.
Philosophical Papers Volume I
New York : Oxford University Press : 1983 : 304 p. :
Table of Contents / Abstracts
Mandatory

3 Support for reductionism

Papineau David
Thinking about Consciousness
Oxford : Oxford University Press : 2002 : 280 p. :
Table of Contents / Abstracts
ISBN: 9786612007071
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: Chapter 1 and appendix

Libet Benjamin
Do we have free will
Journal of Consciousness Studies 6 : 1999 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: p. 47-52 E-version available via UB

4 Challenges for reductionism

Jackson Frank
What Mary didn't know
Journal of Philosophy 83 : 1986 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: 291-5 E-version available via UB.

Kripke Saul A.
Naming and necessity
Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard U. P. : 1980 : 172 s. :
ISBN: 0-674-59845-8
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: p. 144-55. Available online at http://socialistica.lenin.ru/analytic/txt/k/kripke_1.htm (in the online version, you can identify the passage as the one that begins with the sentence I finally turn to an all too cursory discussion of the application of the foregoing considerations to the identity thesis" and ends at the end of lecture 3).

Phenomenal Concepts and Phenomenal Knowledge : New Essays on Consciousness and Physicalism
Alter Torin, Walter Sven
New York : Oxford University Press : 2007 : 368 p. :
Table of Contents / Abstracts
Mandatory

5 Reductionist responses

Nagel Thomas
What is it like to be a bat?
Philosophical Review 83 : 1974 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: 435-50 E-version available via UB.

McGinn Colin
Can we solve the mind-body problem
Mind 98 : 1989 :
Mandatory

Stoljar Daniel
Ignorance and Imagination : The Epistemic Origin of the Problem of Consciousness
New York : Oxford University Press : 2006 : 288 p. :
Table of Contents / Abstracts
Mandatory

Stoljar Daniel
Physicalism and phenomenal concepts
Mind and Language 20 : 2005 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: p. 490-92. E-version available via UB

6 Illusionism

Chalmers David John
Philosophy of mind : classical and contemporary readings
New York : Oxford University Press : 2002 : 675 s. :
ISBN: 0-19-514580-1 (hardback : alk. paper)
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue

Frankish K
Illusionism as a theory of consciousness
Journal of Consciousness Studies, 23 : 2016 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: (11-12), 11-39

7 Attention, Self and Consciousness

Lee Geoffrey
Selfless experience
Philosophical Perspectives 31 (1) : 2017 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: 207-243

Watzl S
Structuring mind: The nature of attention and how it shapes consciousness
Oxford University Press : 2017 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: The Perspectivity Picture, Ch 13 (pp. 259-283) In: Structuring mind: The nature of attention and how it shapes consciousness.

Watzl S
Consciousness and no self?
Ratio, 31(4) : 2018 :
Online at:
Mandatory
Reading instructions: 363-375

O´Conaill D
Attention and Consciousness: A Comment on Watzl's Structuring the Mind
Thought: A Journal of Philosophy : 2019 :
Online at:
Mandatory

8 Monitor" theories

Lycan William
A simple argument for a higher-order representation theory of consciousness
Analysis 61 : 2001 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: 3-4 E-version available via UB

Rosenthal David
Explaining consciousness
Philosophy of Mind, ed. Chalmers, Oxford UP : 2002 :
Online at:
Mandatory

Lycan William
Consciousness as internal monitoring
Philosophical Perspectives 9 : 1995 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: 1-14 E-version available via UB

Kriegel Uriah
Consciousness as intransitive self-consciousness: Two views and an argumen
Canadian Journal of Philosophy 33 : 2003 :
Online at:
Mandatory
Reading instructions: 103-32

Neander Karen
The Division of Phenomenal Labor: A Problem for Representationalist Theories of Consciousness
Philosophical Perspectives 12 (S12) : 1998 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: 411-34 E-version available via UB

9 Measuring consciousness

Measuring consciousness: relating behavioural and neurophysiological approaches
Seth A.K, Dienes Z, Cleeremans A, Overgaard M, Pessoa L
Trends in cognitive sciences, 12(8) : 2008 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 314-21 E-version available via UB

10 Neural correlates of consciousness

Experimental and theoretical approaches to conscious processing
Dehaene S, Changeux J
Neuron, 70 (2) : 2011 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 200-227 E-version available via UB

Neural correlates of consciousness: progress and problems
Koch C, Massimini M, Boly M, Tonini G
Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 17(5) : 2016 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 307-321

11 Representationalism/Intentionalism

Harman Gilbert
The intrinsic quality of experience
Philosophical Perspectives 4, ed. J. Tomberlin, Ridgeview : 1990 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 31-52 E-version available via UB

Byrne Alex
Intentionalism defended
Philosophical Review 110 : 2001 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 199-240 E-version available via UB

12 The structure of consciousness

Block Ned
Some concepts of consciousness
Philosophy of Mind, ed. Chalmers, Oxford UP : 2002 :
Online at:
Mandatory

Levine Joseph
Purple Haze
Oxford UP : 2001 :
Mandatory

Kriegel, Uriah
Subjective Consciousness: A Self-Representational Theory
Oxford: Oxford UP : 2009 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: Sect. 1.3 E-version available via UB.

Phillips Ian
No watershed for overflow: Recent work on the richness of consciousness
Philosophical Psychology 29(2) : 2016 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 236-49 E-version available via UB