PHIL 1102 - Mind and World

Being human is special. Humans are highly intelligent, language-using organisms, who are capable of building complex systems of knowledge, conscious of themselves and their world, and able to freely choose a path through life. As far as we know, this combination of abilities is unique to ourselves on this planet. But each is somewhat puzzling. How can we be free if, as physics tells us, every event is determined by what comes before it? How can words and symbols, which are mere scribbles (or noises), have meanings? And how do organisms with bodies made of physical materials get to be conscious knowers?

Philosophers have long thought about these puzzling questions. This course is an introduction to some of the answers philosophers have proposed.