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UG Humanities Semester III (Ways of Doing)

Module 2 The Brain and the Mind

Instructors: Sabah Siddiqui and Tejaswini Niranjana

The relation between mental states and brain states has long intrigued and even confused scientists and

philosophers. With new scientific and technological advances, the gap between the two is finding

moments of intersections. Nonetheless there are several paradoxical findings, which this module will

argue also provides us the next moment in this line of inquiry. This module will explore the puzzles

confronting us today in artificial intelligence, dreams as well as musical and aesthetic appreciation as

requiring an integrated framework.

Session 1 Sep. 2, 2013 The cognitive turn

Recap from first semester: the Cognitive Revolution in psychology Concepts and history

philosophy of psychology

Session 2: Sep. 5, 2013 Brain studies

Introducing philosophy of biology (specifically neuroscience) the problem of localization of function

modularity in the brain

Session 3: Sep 6, 2013 The integration argument

Intersecting the brain and the mind associationism plasticity mirror neurons in the evolution of

cultural phenomenon

Session 4: Sep 12, 2013 Integrated thematic: Artificial Intelligence

Neural networking human and artificial comparative cognition intentionality the puzzle of

nonlinearity

Session 5: Sep 13, 2013 Integrated thematic: Aesthetic and musical appreciation

Link between creative genius and abnormal madness neurodegeneration and creativity factors

contributing to aesthetic experience

Session 6: Sep 16, 2013 Integrated thematic: Dreams

Function of dreams psychoanalytic takes on dreams neurological basis for psychoanalytic thinking

and interpretation

Session 7: Sep 19, 2013 Winding up and assignment

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Course Readings:

ESSENTIAL READINGS

Miller, G. A. (2003). The cognitive revolution: a historical perspective. Trends in Cognitive Sciences,

Vol.7, No.3, March 2003.

Ramachandran, V. S. (2011). The tell-tale brain. New York: W. W. Norton.

(Chapters: Introduction - No Mere ApeChapter 1 - Phantom Limbs and Plastic BrainsChapter 4 - The Neurons that Shaped Civilization

Chapter 7 - Beauty and the Brain: The Emergence of Aesthetics)

Freud, S. (1925).A Note upon the "Mystic Writing Pad".

Turnbull, O. and Solms, M. (2003). The Brain and the Inner World: An Introduction to the

Neuroscience of Subjective Experience. New York: Other Press Book.

(Chapter 6 - Dreams and Hallucinations)

EXTRA READINGS

Bickle, John, Mandik, Peter and Landreth, Anthony (2012). The Philosophy of Neuroscience. In The

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Edward N. Zalta Ed. ) Retrieved from

http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2012/entries/neuroscience/.

Dhar, Anup (2010). Science(s) of the Mind: Fort-Da between the Windscreen and the Rearview Mirror.

InMaterialism and Immaterialism in India and the West: Varying Vistas(Volume XII, Levels

of Reality, Part 5 ed. Partha Ghosh, in Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and

Culture (PHISPC), General Ed. D P Chattopadhyay

Solms, Mark and Turnbull, Oliver (2011). What is Neuropsychoanalysis?Neuropsychoanalysis, 2011,

13 (2) 1.

Searle, John (1997). Roger Penrose, Kurt Godel, and the Cytoskeletons. In the Mystery of

Consciousness. New York: The New York Review of Books.

Sacks, Oliver (2007). Keeping Time, Rhythm and Movement. In Musicophilia: Tales of music and thebrain. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

J. Allan Hobson, Edward F. Pace-Schott, and Robert Stickgold (2003). Dreaming and the brain:

Toward a cognitive neuroscience of conscious states. In Sleeping and Dreaming(Edward Pace-

Schott, Mark Solms, Mark Blagrove, & Stevan Harnad, Eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2012/entries/neuroscience/http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2012/entries/neuroscience/http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2012/entries/neuroscience/