Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Welcome, dear student of philosophy!

To get started, here's a very brief "Hello" video . . .

Please be ready for a fascinating journey of discovery! Philosophy of Mind might be called something like Bodies, Minds and Souls. It is a course that takes up the enduring philosophical investigation into the nature of the human person, in some traditional but also many new ways. For example, do our minds have any reality that's not finally reducible to our physical selves? Is the language of physics enough for describing body and mind entirely?  Are there reasons to think we are, or are not, existing in a simulation like The Matrix?  Could there be a form of artificial intelligence that would be functionally no different than our minds? Greater than our minds?  We start with the ancient Greek thinkers, and then focus mainly on modern and contemporary philosophers. Of course, these days it is the brain we think of as the part of our physical selves most intimately associated with the mind. So contemporary philosophy of mind, like psychology and other disciplines, is significantly driven by all the sophisticated work that is being done in neuro-science, along with explorations in artificial intelligence. That will form the background of our study in this class too. 

A note on the required textbook. You'll need the texbook, Philosophy of Mind--A Guide and Anthology, by John Heil, ISBN 9780199253838, right away. There will be an important assignment from the book starting the first day of class. It's an excellent collection of original texts by philosophers of mind, with valuable explanatory material by John Heil. Because of all the contemporary, copyrighted materials, the book is not free, but fortunately, it is not too expensive.  I see online that it is priced new at about $57, and used from about $10. Students have also found downloadable versions by searching the web.  The book is available from the campus bookstore, too, but its price there is absurdly high.

You can visit my PCC website HERE.

Looking forward to our time together online this term!

Steve Jolin, Ph.D., Department of Philosophy, PCC.