PHIL 7450
Philosophy and Cognitive Science: Modularity, Attention and Intelligence
Spring 2008
Instructor: Dr. Stephen Downes
581-6094
www.philosophy.utah.edu/faculty/downes/index.html
Dr. Ron Mallon
585-5810
www.hum.utah.edu/~rmallon
Office
Hours: Downes: Thursday 11AM-12 Noon.
Mallon: Thursday 11AM-12 Noon.
Or by Appt.
Texts: The
Modularity of Mind by Jerry
Fodor.
Reserve
readings (paper reserve or online) as assigned.
Description.
This course critically assesses so called
"horizontal" faculties such as attention, the conscious will, and
intelligence. In the early 1980's Jerry Fodor made a strong case for
important components of cognitive architecture being "modular" -
having a suite of properties including being automatic, domain specific, and
informationally autonomous - but Fodor maintained that so-called "central
systems" (which, he thought, are the seat of knowledge and rational
thought) were nonmodular. Since then, many theorists have extended the
scope of modularity well into these "central systems."
At the extreme, these
so-called "massive modularity" approaches defend the position that
most or all cognitive activity is served by modular processes. One
response to massive modularity is to ask whether there is any room in such a
cognitive system for nondomain specific faculties such as attention, the
conscious "will," and intelligence. These seem to be attributes
of our cognitive make-up that operates across many domains. We will first
set up Fodor's view and then the massive modularity view. We next look at
methodology in contemporary philosophy of cognitive science. We then turn
to some problem cases of cognitive activity in which attention is given a large
role by cognitive psychologists. Here we look at dual process
theories, first in the context of moral psychology and then in the context of
the psychology of reason. We also consider recent empirical work on the
conscious will. We then turn to attention the non-modular process par
excellence. We finish up the course by examining theories of general intelligence,
another research topic that sits uneasily with the massive modularity view.
Books.
J. A. Fodor The Modularity of Mind,
MIT Press.
All other readings on reserve or online.
Topics.
January 10: Introduction
and Discussion of Fodorian Modularity
Downes's Slides on
Fodor HERE
January 17: 1.
Modularity of Mind (continued)
Read Fodor's
"Central Systems" and "Caveats and Conclusions" MOM
101-129
Recommended reading by
Steve Downes on another
analogy between science and psychology.
January 24: 2.
Evolutionary Psychology and Massive Modularity
Tooby and Cosmides From
Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology D.Buss (Ed.) pgs 5-67
Daniel Sperber, "The modularity of
thought and the epidemiology of representations"
January 31: 3.
Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology
Richard Samuels, "Evolutionary
Psychology and the Massive Modularity Hypothesis" BJPS 49 575-602 Online
David Buller From Adapting Minds
(2005) pgs. 144-200
February 7: 4.
A Case Study in Boxes and Arrows
Nichols and Stich Mindreading
(2003) Introduction pgs. 1-15 and Nichols and Stich "A cognitive
theory of pretense,' Cognition, 74: 115-47 Online
February 14: 5.
Attention
Strayer and Drews
"Attention" in the Handbook of Applied Cognition (2nd Edition)
F.Durso (Ed.) (2007).
Online
Scholl, Brian "Objects and Attention:
The State of the Art" Online
Daniel Kahneman On
Reserve
February 21: 6.
Dual Process Theories: Moral and Social Psychology
Haidt, J. (2001).
"The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach
to moral judgment " Psychological Review 108: 814-834. Online
(And here
is a prepublication version.)
Bargh, J. and T. L. Chartrand (1999).
"The Unbearable Automaticity of Being." American Psychologist
54: 462-479. Online
February 28: 7.
Conscious will and self-regulation
Baumeister, R. F., E.
Bratslavsky, M. Muraven and D. M. Tice (1998). "Ego Depletion: Is the
active self a limited resource?" Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology 74: 1252-1265. Online
Muraven, M., D. M. Tice and R. F. Baumeister
(1998). "Self Control as a Limited Resource: Regulatory Depletion
Patterns." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 74:
774-789. Online
Roy F. Baumeister, Matthew Gailliot, C.
Nathan DeWall, Megan Oaten (2006)
Self-Regulation and Personality: How
Interventions Increase Regulatory Success, and How Depletion Moderates the
Effects of Traits on Behavior Journal of Personality 74 (6),
1773–1802. Online
March 6: 8.
Dual Process Theories: Reasoning
Kahneman and Tversky selections Chps. 1, 34
and 35 (pgs. 3-20 and 493-520)
Stanovich on dual process, Chp. 2 of The
Robot's Rebellion
March 14: Dept Colloquium (required for
class)
Spring Break March 17th to 22nd
=================================================================March
26: 9.
Dual Process Theories: Reasoning 2
K. Stanovich Who is Rational? (1999)
Chs 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 (pgs. 1-52 and 142-207).
April 3: 10. Intelligence 1
Bartholomew,
Ebook: Read Ch's 1 and 10 Online
April 10: 11. Intelligence 2
Arthur Jensen Reading
Reading on Flynn effect
April 17: 12. IQ and Race
Henry Harpending, "The
Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence"
For
Fun: New York Mag Article Online
Ned Block, "How
Heritability Misleads About Race" Online
Nevin Sesardic Readings
Learning Objectives.
Students will learn some of the basic and
recent findings in some key areas of cognitive science research. Students
will also learn how to do philosophy of cognitive science, which involves both
the critical scrutiny of theoretical claims in cognitive science an the
presentation and defense of new, testable theses about our cognitive
faculties. Students will also be introduced to standards of professional
practice in philosophy (e.g. how to deliver talks/presentations and how to write
papers for publication).
Requirements.
Attendance is required and coming to class
having read the required material and being ready to discuss that material is
also required. Students will be required to give at least one in class
presentation, attend the Philosophy Department Annual Colloquium, hand in
several short written assignments and one long paper, presented first in draft
form and again at the end of the semester in final form. Written work
required for this course will total 25 pages or more.
Rough draft of long paper due March 27th
Final draft of long paper due April 24th.
No late papers will be accepted without
prior arrangement.
Grades Assessed as follows:
Attendance and contributions to class
discussion 10%
Presentation(s)
15%
Short written
assignments
10%
Colloquium
report
5%
Rough draft of long
paper
25%
Final draft of long
paper
35%
The Graduate School considers a student in
good standing if they maintain an average GPA of 3.0 or above. The
graduate school does not accept courses with grades of C- or below. You
must have a B+ or above in a course that you want to count for a Philosophy
Ph.D. area requirement. The following is a rough guide to our grading
policy:
A All high quality graduate
level work and any better work (e.g. publishable!).
A- All good graduate level work.
B+ Satisfactory graduate level work.
B Fair graduate level
work, which may suffice as good undergraduate work.
B- Not quite up to graduate
standard.
Grades of C+ and below are assigned to poor
work.
General University Requirements
The University of Utah seeks to
provide equal access to its programs, services and activities for people with
disabilities. If you will need accommodations in this class, reasonable
prior notice needs to be given to the Center for Disability Services, 162 Olpin
Union Building, 581-5020 (V/TDD). CDS will work with you and the
instructor to make arrangements and accommodations.
All written
information in this course can be made available in alternative formats with
prior notification to the Center for Disability Services.
Attendance Policy
University of Utah attendance policy can be
found here: http://www.acs.utah.edu/sched/handbook/attend.htm
Drop/Withdrawal Policy
Classes dropped by the 10th calendar day of the
semester are deleted from
students' records and no tuition is charged.
Students may withdraw from a full term course without the instructor or dean's
permission until the midpoint of the semester as published on the academic
calendar. To withdraw, students must log into the Campus Information
System. A "W" grade will be recorded on students' academic record if
he or she withdraws. After the withdrawal deadline, students may petition
for withdrawal if they have a nonacademic emergency. Students must submit a
petition and supporting documentation to the office of the dean of their
academic college. Undeclared, non-matriculated and pre-major students apply to
the University College. Students must submit the petition to the appropriate
dean's office by the last day of regular course instruction preceding the final
exam period.
Cheating
Handing in any work other than your own, for
example, an online or file paper, constitutes cheating. Handing in papers
previously submitted for other classes also constitutes cheating. If you are
discovered doing any of these things, you will receive a failing grade for the
relevant assignment. If you are discovered cheating again you will
automatically fail the class and will be reported to the University for academic
misconduct.
The web provides many opportunities for
research but also provides many temptations. In this class you need no online
resources other than electronic resources linked from this course web
site. Quotation of web resources without proper citation constitutes
plagiarism and is a form of cheating.
The University Student Code Discusses both
Cheating and Plagiarism: ÒCheatingÓ involves the unauthorized possession or use
of information, materials, notes, study aids, or other devices in any academic
exercise, or the unauthorized communication with another person during such an
exercise.
Common examples of cheating include, but are
not limited to, copying from another student's examination, submitting work for
an in-class exam that has been prepared in advance, violating rules governing
the administration of exams, having another person take an exam, altering one's
work after the work has been returned and before resubmitting it, or violating
any rules relating to academic conduct of a course or program.
(Student Code I B 2.a,
http://www.admin.utah.edu/ppmanual/8/8-10.html )
ÒPlagiarismÓ means the intentional
unacknowledged use or incorporation of any other person's work in, or as a
basis for, one's own work offered for academic consideration or credit or for
public presentation. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, representing
as one's own, without attribution, any other individualÕs words, phrasing,
ideas, sequence of ideas, information or any other mode or content of
expression. (Student Code I B 2.c,
http://www.admin.utah.edu/ppmanual/8/8-10.html )