PHIL 3440: Cognitive Science                                                                    Ron Mallon

Topics 2.

Write a 4-6 pages, double-spaced paper on a topic of your choice. Here are some suggestions.

Instructions:

(1)  Papers may be on any topic of your choosing, but they should substantially engage the classroom readings and discussion.  Topics below are suggestions.  If you’d like to discuss your paper topic [recommended if you are not writing on one of the topics below], feel free to contact me during my office hours or via email at rmallon@philosophy.utah.edu. 

(2) Papers should be original.  Plagiarism will result in a punishment not to exceed a failing grade for the course.  (Note also that work produced for another course cannot be submitted for this one.)

(3) Papers are DUE Friday December 14, 2007 in 341 OSH.

Some advice:

(1) Your paper should have an argument that you introduce, present, and conclude.

(2) It's often easier to start with a position you disagree with.

(3) Considering objections to your view will enhance the quality of your written work and your thinking.

(4) Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.

1. Jerry Fodor argues that central systems are not modular. Explain his argument, and assess it in light of work by Keil, Bargh and Chartrand, or Tooby and Cosmides.

2. Consider one or more experiments presented by Keil or Bargh and Chartrand, and assess whether the experiments show what they claim they do. If they do not, consider whether a different experiment might resolve the issue.

3. Evolutionary Psychologists claim the mind is comprised largely of special purpose mechanisms that are adaptive specializations for solving particular problems. David Buller (recommended reading) questions this thesis. Who is right?

4. Fodor distinguishes a Neo-Cartesian account of the mind from the view that the mind has vertical faculties. Explain how this difference might bear on the assessment of evolutionary psychologists' claims that the mind is "massively modular."