Harvard University, FAS

Philosophy 239

Mental Causation

 Asst. Prof James Pryor
Dept. of Philosophy

I offered Phil 239 in Fall 1998; this web site refers to that version of the course.

- James Pryor

Course Description

There are a handful of arguments that are widely supposed to raise trouble for mental causation. Philosophers of mind have generally accepted these arguments, and have spent their time proposing various ways to contain their impact. In this seminar, we will take a hard critical look at these arguments, and determine whether they are in fact as convincing as they have been taken to be.

There will be only a few readings, but we will be scrutinizing those readings very closely and at length.

This seminar will primarily be driven by group discussion. I have very definite views on these issues, but for the most part, I'm going to try to present those views without taking charge of the discussion. As part of this plan, I want us to have an open discussion of the material we've read before I advance any of my own views.

For the second class (Sept. 24), please read Ch. 6 of Jaegwon Kim's Philosophy of Mind. A photocopy of this article will be available on the reserve shelf in Robbins Library.

Syllabus and Notes

[Phil 239] [James Pryor] [Philosophy Dept.]

Created by: James Pryor
Last Modified: Mon, Jul 17, 2000 6:58 PM