Teaching Position Available

Location: Noah's Ark

I. Importance of Epistomological Questions (why Searle should care)

1. Relavance to animal rights

2. Potential to help us understand human cognition

II. Rational Rationality

1. Another look at the criterion of rationlity

2. Modular rationality - rational cognitive processes

a) deduction b) induction c) association/causality d) concepts

3. Refutation of Davidson

a) Johnson-Laird's mental models

III. The Big One

1. Double Standards

a) Why do philosophers want computers to be conscious but not animals?

b) uniform standards - modified turing tests... Who should judge?

2. Inference to the Best Explanation

a) Solipsism b) behaviorism c) The Intentional Stance d) it just "makes sence"

3. Dennet - continuum of Cncs

IV. Reaching Their Potential

1. Julian Jaynes - The Death of the Gods

a) lang. precedes cnsc... cncs is learned

b) Postulating a mind-space: how we learn cncs -> Names, Love, Travel, etc...

2. Hearne as confirmation of theory - models of cncs (theory supports Hearne)

a) lang. games, cncs games

b) animal models - bodies/minds

3. Animal's status: babies vs. imbeciles