Philosophy of Mind Commons^™

Between Fodor And Sellars -- A Middle Ground For Language-Like Neural Representations, Hanzhe Dong

Theses

The recent resurgence of the language of thought (LOT) hypothesis has drawn much attention. The history of philosophy and cognitive science has provided us with various versions of LOT. From Sellars to Fodor, theorists have offered us considerations on the vehicles, content, and functions of such a representation format. However, it’s been more than 50 years since Fodor’s publication on LOT (1975), and the resurgence suggests that we need a modern iteration of LOT to fit with recent developments in the study on cognition. Therefore, in this paper, I argue that we need a middle ground between Fodor and Sellars’s …

Hear & Believe: Epistemic Humility And The Limits Of Human Reason, Elias Seeman

Philosophy Student Projects

There are few more hotly debated questions in philosophy than the capacity of human reason as it relates to knowing God. Both Immanuel Kant and G.W.F. Hegel dedicated a significant portion of their work to precisely this question. These thinkers, however, did not seek to understand the capabilities and limits of human reason from a distinctly Christian perspective. Their work, while containing real insights, has serious, problematic implications for Christian thinkers, making it imperative to chart a path toward a robustly Christian, Biblically-anchored, conception of reason.

Artificial General Intelligence And The Mind-Body Problem: Exploring The Computability Of Simulated Human Intelligence In Light Of The Immaterial Mind, Caleb Parks

Senior Honors Theses

In this thesis I explore whether achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI) through simulating the human brain is theoretically possible. Because of the scientific community’s predominantly physicalist outlook on the mind-body problem, AGI research may be limited by erroneous foundational presuppositions. Arguments from linguistics and mathematics demonstrate that the human intellect is partially immaterial, opening the door for novel analysis of the mind’s simulability. I categorize mind-body problem philosophies in a manner relevant to computer science based upon state transitions, and determine their ramifications on mind-simulation. Finally, I demonstrate how classical architectures cannot resolve so-called Gödel statements, discuss why this inability …

Is Ignorance Bliss?, Eliana R. Mandelberg

CAFE Symposium 2024

This project explores the ethics of telling someone factual information, even if it could hurt them. Specifically, the main question is: If a person were to learn that our world was just The Matrix, would they be obligated to tell people to be truthful or keep it to themselves to spare the feelings of others?

The Divided Self: Internal Conflict In Literature, Philosophy, Psychology, And Neuroscience, Yulia Greyman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thematic project examines the notion of self-division, particularly in terms of the conflict between cognition and metacognition, across the fields of philosophy, psychology, and, most recently, the cognitive and neurosciences. The project offers a historic overview of models of self-division, as well as analyses of the various problems presented in theoretical models to date. This work explores how self-division has been depicted in the literary works of Edgar Allan Poe, Don DeLillo, and Mary Shelley. It examines the ways in which artistic renderings alternately assimilate, resist, and/or critique dominant philosophical, psychological, and scientific discourses about the self and its …

A Madhyamaka Critique Of Jaegwon Kim's Supervenience Argument, Tyler J. Jungbauer

Comparative Philosophy

Jaegwon Kim’s supervenience argument objects to the possibility of emergent causation (both downward and same-level) based on both (1) the causal overdetermination of both (a) higher-level emergent events and (b) lower-level basal events, and (2) the causal closure principle of the physical domain. Kim argues that emergent causation entails epiphenomenalism. Madhyamaka Buddhist philosophy skeptically critiques the primary (ultimate) existence of causal phenomena and instead suggests that all such phenomena may only be secondarily (conventionally) existent. Mādhyamikas acknowledge that, conventionally, emergent phenomena appear to cause both basal phenomena and other emergent phenomena. However, contra Kim, Mādhyamikas doubt that causal relations ultimately …

Precommentary: Animal Personality Needs Animal Sentience, Ralph Adolphs, Yue Xu

Animal Sentience

We are grateful to Owens, Bryja & Bekoff (2024) for their important discussion of individual differences in animals, emphasizing the role of personality in conservation, wildlife research, and wellbeing. But their emphasis also raises new challenges: How should we conceive of personality in nonhuman species? what modern tools could be leveraged to best measure it? and, perhaps most important of all: how can we ensure that the conscious experience of animals — their capacity for wellbeing and for suffering — is not forgotten along the way? We touch on each of these challenges in this invited Precommentary in the hope …

The Standing Of Anger: Insights From The Debate(S) On Constructed Emotion, Andrew Holzer

CMC Senior Theses

In her book, Anger and Forgiveness: Resentment, Generosity, Justice, Martha Nussbaum argues that anger is inherently flawed because it fundamentally contains the desire for payback. To support her argument, she posits specific metaphysical claims about the nature of emotions like anger. This thesis is an extended critique of her metaphysical foundation from the perspective of empirical research in the neuroscience of emotion. The first reason to dispute this picture is descriptive; this view of anger is based on an outdated version of cognitive appraisal theory, which sees emotions as triggered directly by static moments of cognitive appraisal. The second …

Auden: Body/Mind, Basil Lloyd-Moffett

CMC Senior Theses

On one hand Auden appears the most cerebral of poets. It is said that when he arrived at school, aged eight, he professed himself excited to study the different psychological types, and the cryptic verse that was to emerge over a decade later bears the scars of his reading, psychological or otherwise, as clearly as the relentlessly analytical Dichtung und Wahrheit and other late works.Absorbing and repurposing philosophical, psychological, religious, and scientific works was an essential part of his artistic strategy, and led to credible accusations of plagiarism on a number of occasions.And just as his collaborators and friends mocked …

Unveiling The Unseen: A Feminist Exploration Of Consciousness And Empowerment Among Homeless Women Through Consciousness-Raising, Scarlett Liu

CMC Senior Theses

Homeless women have been forgotten subject matter in the study and practice of feminist consciousness and consciousness-raising efforts. However, they grapple with the compounded challenges of both gender and homelessness within an oppressive societal structure. This thesis therefore seeks to conceptualize the consciousness of women, and particularly homeless women, in a feminist lens. Specifically, this thesis explores the Othering of women’s consciousness through the intellectual lineage of Simone de Beauvoir and Hegel, and emphasizes the role of material circumstances in shaping consciousness-raising efforts. Then, this thesis examines two unique struggles faced by homeless women – survival sex and homeless motherhood. …

Animal Personality And Sentience As Distinct Concepts, Mark Briffa

Animal Sentience

Owens et al (2024) discuss how knowledge of both animal personality and sentience in target populations can be leveraged to enhance wildlife conservation programmes. In this commentary I expand on the distinction between these two concepts. Behavioural differences should be considered broadly across conservation programmes, not just those involving species deemed sentient.

A Demonstration Of Enactivist Personality Assessment Using The Five-Factor Model, Garri Hovhannisyan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to extend the intellectual and existential horizon of the enactive approach by bringing forth an enactivist understanding of human cognitive life as it is lived from the perspective of personality traits. The theoretical task of this dissertation is to review existing evidence in support of the Enactivist Big-5 Theory (EB5T) of personality and its potential for bridging the phenomenological gap between minimal and human cognition. As a phenomenologically grounded theory of personality, EB5T conceptualizes individual differences not merely as differences in trait measures within a person but as differences in styles of how individuals bring forth, experience, …

Clausewitzian Theory Of War In The Age Of Cognitive Warfare, Amber Brittain-Hale, Amber Brittain-Hale

Education Division Scholarship

We can reconceptualise warfare by contrasting Clausewitz with the modern practice of cognitive warfare, as evidenced by Ukraine’s defence methodologies. The strategic orchestration of ‘infopolitik’ and the sophisticated use of social media can shape narratives and public perception. This article revisits Clausewitz’s tenet of war as a political instrument and juxtaposes it with contemporary conflict’s multidimensional tactics. By scrutinising Ukraine’s digital and psychological warfare tactics, one may question the applicability of Clausewitz’s framework, seeking to understand if these novel dimensions of warfare compel a redefinition or an expansion of his thesis to navigate the complexities of contemporary geopolitical confrontations.

A Talk With Time, Samanatha Kuban

Master's Theses

I chose to write a collection of genre-mixing short stories to depict the vastness and complexity of time as my English Master’s thesis project. Thinking about the constructs of time and how they function or do not function within our society sparked my interest in this field of knowledge and discussion. I am a person that tends to feel a large amount of anxiety surrounding the passage of time or time limits so reading deeper into studies of time and how we think about it in various ways proved to be an outlet for a better understanding. I chose to …

Mrs. Dalloway As A Window For Understanding Life, Kristen Venegas

English (MA) Theses

Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway may be dismissed as fiction, and fiction consequently is dismissed as fantasy. However, the novel enables readers to practice an intellectual exercise of meta-awareness that extends beyond the pages and onto real world phenomena. Under a cognitive neuroscience perspective, Mrs. Dalloway is a literary masterpiece due to its hyper- realistic execution of the intimacies of life. Through the narrative style of free-indirect discourse, Woolf illustrates what occurs in the minds of characters as they develop their own perceptions of reality and identity, exposes the fear and inadequacies of mankind’s distress in times of chaos and disorder …

Gaston-Paul Effa, Moine-Pèlerin Et Flambeur Au Risque De La Forêt Camerounaise, Sylvie Kande

The Goose

Book review of Gaston-Paul Effa's 2019 novel, La vertical du Cri. The narrator finds salvation in wandering between nations and throughout the African rainforest.

Kripke’S Knowledge Argument Against Materialism, Adriana Renero

Publications and Research

In his unpublished 1979 Lectures on the Philosophy of Mind, Saul Kripke offers a knowledge argument against materialism, focusing on deaf people who lack knowledge of auditory experience. Kripke’s argument is a precursor of Frank Jackson’s better-known knowledge argument against materialism (1982). The paper sets out Kripke’s argument, brings out its interest and philosophical importance, and explores some similarities and differences between Kripke’s knowledge argument and Jackson’s.

Japanese-English Translation: Nishida Kitarō––“Self-Determination Of The Eternal Now” 「永遠の今の自己限定」、西田幾多郎著（昭和六年七月） (July 1931) §1 Of 4; Complete Draft (Supersedes Draft Of 2 Jan 19); Translated By Christopher Southward; Revision And Expansion Underway, Christopher Southward

Comparative Literature Faculty and Student Scholarship

Japanese-English Translation: Nishida Kitarō––“Self-Determination of the Eternal Now” (July 1931) 「永遠の今の自己限定」、西田幾多郎著（昭和六年七月）

§1 of 4; Complete Draft (Supersedes Draft of 2 Jan 2019)

Translated from the Japanese by Christopher Southward; Revision and Expansion Underway, October 2023

Balanced Blended Space: Proposing A Universal Theoretical Framework For Combinative Reality, David Smith, Frederick Bianchi

Publications and Research

In today's fragmented societies, a unified framework for communication and collaboration across different realities is crucial. We introduce Balanced Blended Space (BBS) as a framework for describing combinative reality, encompassing virtual, physical, and conceptual realms, all intrinsically connected. Interactions within these environments shape our perceptual space. This paper outlines key axiomatic assumptions, criteria for a universal framework, and fundamental terminology. We identify deep symmetries enabling the BBS framework, including Cognitive and Computational Symmetry, Physical and Virtual Symmetry, Mediation Pathway Symmetry, Space-Time Symmetry, and Sensory Symmetry. We propose tests to determine its viability, emphasizing virtual intelligence as a collaborative partner. We …

Japanese-English Translation: Miki Kiyoshi —Thinking With Master Nishida (First Published In Fujin Kōron, August 1941) Complete Draft; Translated, Edited, And Revised By Christopher Southward, October 2022-September 2023 「西田先生のことども」、三木清著（初発 婦人公論、昭和十六年八月）, Christopher Southward

Comparative Literature Faculty and Student Scholarship

Japanese-English Translation: Miki Kiyoshi —Thinking with Master Nishida (First Published in Fujin Kōron, August 1941) Complete Draft; Translated, Edited, and Revised by Christopher Southward, October 2022-September 2023「西田先生のことども」、三木清著（初発 婦人公論、昭和十六年八月）

Source text transcribed and published by Aozora Bunko–a compendium of public-domain Japanese literature, philosophy, and criticism

General website: https://www.aozora.gr.jp

Current text: https://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000218/files/50538_37481.html