Thought and experience: themes in the philosophy of mind
On this page
|
|
|
|
|
| 6 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| Examination | No residential school |
Register for the course
This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees may vary by country.
Summary
On this course, you will explore a number of central philosophical questions concerning the nature and activities of the human mind, and its place in the natural and social worlds. You will encounter the opinions of great thinkers from history as well as of contemporary philosphers, and examine related issues in aesthetics, the theory of knowledge, metaphysics and the philosophy of language. You will examine the development of conceptions of the mind and explore four topics in detail: emotion; thought and language; imagination and creativity; and consciousness.
Course content
The course is divided into five books, the first providing a general introduction and the remaining four exploring specific themes in detail.
Aspects of the Mind – This first book is an introduction to some of the issues in the philosophy of mind as it is currently pursued in the western analytical tradition. The activities of the mind seem to include both thinking and reasoning on the one hand, and sensing and experiencing on the other. How do mind and mentality so conceived fit into the natural world? Can only living things have minds? Could thinking, sensing and experiencing be purely physical processes? A radical shift in thinking about the nature of both mind and life was ushered in by Descartes and the rise of modern science in the seventeenth century. The implications of this shift for the answers to these questions are explored, along with further key developments in twentieth-century thought, such as the relevance of the computer for understanding the mind.
Emotion – The purpose of this book is to explore some key questions about the nature and function of the emotions. What is an emotion? Does it make sense to characterise an emotion as justified or well-grounded? Should we regard emotions as conflicting with reason, or are emotions essential to our capacity to think and to act in a rational way? Emotion is currently a hot topic in philosophical research; but many of the issues raised in the book are familiar from literature and popular culture, and they bear on perennial concerns about the relation between emotion and reason.
Language and Thought – Language, which is public and accessible, can be used to convey thoughts, which seem private and hidden from view. How is this possible? Presumably we rely on sentences having a meaning that both speaker and hearer exploit. But what is meaning? This and several other key questions about language and thought are taken up in the third book. Meaning cannot be scientifically measured in the same way as, say, humidity. And, setting aside the issue of how we manage to communicate them, what are thoughts? Some claim that thoughts themselves are sentence-like symbols in a kind of brain-language, ‘Mentalese’, and so susceptible to scientific investigation. But if so, where does this language get its meaning from? And is there space within a descriptive science of mind for a normative notion like error, as when someone thinks, wrongly, that Buckingham Palace is in Buckingham?
Imagination and Creativity – This book investigates certain philosophical issues concerning imagination, creativity, and the relationship between them. Is there a single mental act that we call ‘imagining’? How does imagining differ from perceiving and believing? What role do images play in imagination? Is our perception of the world itself informed by imagination? What contribution does the imagination make to our thought processes? What is creativity? Can creativity be explained? What role does the imagination play in creative processes? After initial consideration of the varieties of imaginative experience, the first part of the book explores the relationships between imagination, perception and thought, discussing the views of Descartes, Hume and Kant. The second part focuses on creativity, examining some of the definitions and explanations that have been offered, and looking at some examples of creative activities.
Consciousness - This final book deals with the nature of consciousness. Many philosophers and psychologists today believe that the mind is a physical phenomenon, whose processes can be explained in scientific terms. Consciousness presents the biggest challenge to this view (the so-called ‘hard problem’ for a science of the mind). Can the physical sciences really explain the nature of conscious experience – the way it feels to have a throbbing headache or see a sunset or smell freshly-ground coffee? Or is there more to these experiences than a physical account can ever capture? If consciousness is non-physical, then it is hard to see how it can have effects within the physical world. But if it is physical, then why does it seem so different from other physical phenomena? And what physical processes does it involve? Is the feel of a conscious experience just a matter of what it represents? Does consciousness involve a form of inner awareness? Finally, could it be that our view of consciousness is mistaken? Do we need to rethink some of our fundamental assumptions about it? These questions go to the heart of our conception of ourselves and our place in the universe, and they are the subject of vigorous debate among contemporary philosophers.
The five course books include readings taken from a variety of sources, including classic philosophical texts and recent research papers. You will be guided through these readings by the discussion in the course books, and by activities designed to help you to understand key points and to encourage you to think about them for yourself. Each course book is accompanied by a CD, featuring interviews with contemporary philosophers about the issues discussed in the books. There is also a sixth CD in which the course authors discuss themes that appear in more than one book. These CDs will round out your understanding of the issues raised in the course text. There is also a set of optional exercises, accessed online, which have been designed to help you to understand some of the more difficult concepts and arguments that you will encounter in the course books, and to help you to revise. The study calendar provides guidance on how much time to spend on each part of the course material: we expect students to spend four weeks on the first book, and either five or six weeks on each of the others. For all the books, except for the first, the calendar allows for further time to be spent on revision and writing an assignment.
The course also has a website. This gives you access to course resources, course news, and links to the Library and other OU websites, as well as the chance to communicate with other students using online forums. It is not compulsory to use the website, but we think you will find it helpful. There is also a MyOpenLibrary page for AA308 which brings together in one place various library resources such as the Philosopher’s Index and the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy that you will find useful during the course.
Associated residential school course
In the Level 2, free-standing philosophy residential school Doing philosophy (AXR271) you will find a strand on philosophy of mind relevant to AA308 (see separate course description). If you decide to attend the residential school, you must register for AXR271 separately, for which an additional fee is payable.
Entry
AA308 is a Level 3 course. Level 3 courses build on study skills and subject knowledge acquired from previous studies at Levels 1 and 2. Although the course does not assume that you have studied philosophy before, it is fairly demanding and if you have not studied philosophy before, you are strongly recommended to take the Level 2 course Philosophy and the human situation (A211) first.
If you would like more information about this course you can visit the AA308 website. This site includes further details about the course content, short extracts from some of the course books, and frequently asked questions.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
Preparatory work
There are four books that you might like to read or browse in by way of preparation:
Simon Blackburn, Think, Oxford University Press, 1999
Ian Ravenscroft, Philosophy of Mind: A Beginner's Guide, Oxford University Press, 2005
Robert Wilkinson, Minds and Bodies, Open University, 1999; Routledge, 2000
A.P. Martinich, Philosophical Writing, 3rd edn., Blackwell, Oxford, 2005
Qualifications
AA308 is a compulsory course in our:
AA308 is an optional course in our:
- BA (Honours) Humanities (B03)
- BA (Honours) Humanities (B03) (with Philosophy)
- BA (Honours) Politics, Philosophy and Economics (B45)
It can also count towards most of our other degrees at bachelors level, where it is equally appropriate to a BA or BSc. We advise you to refer to the relevant qualification descriptions for information on the circumstances in which this course can count towards these qualifications because from time to time the structure and requirements may change.
If you have a disability or additional requirement
This course should present no particular difficulty, although pictorial and musical examples are discussed from time to time. The course requires you to study a large amount of print. Printed course material is available in comb binding and in the DAISY Digital Talking Book format. The course materials are available in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader and mathematical, scientific, and foreign language materials may be particularly difficult to read in this way. Large print versions of the course materials can be provided on request. Written transcripts are available for the audio-visual material. You will need to spend some time using a personal computer. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our booklet Meeting Your Needs which you can download or request from our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
You can also find information about accessible course materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Course materials
What's included
Course books, other printed materials, CDs, course website, online forum.
You will need
CD player.
You will need access to the internet to find specified electronic journal articles for one of the six tutor-marked assignments (TMAs). Access via your workplace or library will be sufficient. Helpsheets are available to assist you in finding the articles.
Computing requirements
This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave.
You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new computer since 2002 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will have a tutor who will help you with the course material and mark and comment on your written work, and whom you can ask for advice and guidance. We may also be able to offer group tutorials or day-schools that you are encouraged, but not obliged, to attend. Where tutorials are held depends on the distribution of students taking each course. Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You will be expected to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) online through the eTMA system unless there are some difficulties which prevent you from doing so. In these circumstances, you must negotiate with your tutor to get their agreement to submit your assignment on paper.
Assessment is an essential part of the teaching, so you are expected to complete it all. One of the assignments will incorporate an element of independent study.
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in February 2011. In 2012 it will be available in February and October. We then expect it to be available once a year, in October.
How to register
To register a place on this course return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button. For more information and advice about registration see OU Study Explained.
About this page
An undergraduate course in Arts and Humanities.
Study explained
- Course
- - a module of study that can count towards a qualification.
- Credit points
- - show how much study is required to complete a course or qualification. One credit point represents roughly 10 hours of study.
- Level
- - indicates how difficult a course is. Undergraduate study starts at Level 1.
- Financial support
- - find out if you qualify for support with your fees with our eligibility checker.
- Study explained
- - all you need to know about studying with the OU.
Student Reviews
Having loved A211 which I did in 2002 I decided to see what else the OU had to offer. It ...
Read more
This was my eleventh OU course, and definately the best to date. The Philosophy courses are generally better than much ...
Read more
Course satisfaction survey
See the satisfaction survey results for this course.
Got a question?
Contact an adviser in our Student Registration & Enquiry Service
Email or call +44(0) 845 300 60 90
Browse the prospectus
Request a print prospectus
Share
This PageThe University wishes to emphasise that, while every effort is made to regularly update this site, the material on it is subject to alteration or amendment in the light of changes in regulations or in policy or of financial or other necessity.