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. So far as we know this combination of abilities is uniquely human. But each is somewhat puzzling. How can we be free if 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 thought long and hard about these questions. Mind and World is an introduction to some of the answers they've discovered.