What this is
Philosophy of mind covers all philosophical topics about the mind and mental states. PhilPapers divides it two ways: by kind of state (consciousness, intentionality, perception, and other states and processes such as attention, belief, emotion, imagination), and by kind of question — especially metaphysical questions about how the mental relates to the physical and epistemological questions about how we know minds. It overlaps with philosophy of cognitive science and philosophy of action.
Current conversations
- Consciousness and the physical world — the hard problem, explanatory gap, zombies and the knowledge argument (see sub-topics). Robert Van Gulick calls consciousness “arguably the central issue in current theorizing about the mind.” — SEP: Consciousness
- Consciousness and intentionality: is phenomenal experience itself a source of “aboutness”? — Charles Siewert, SEP: Consciousness and Intentionality; Uriah Kriegel, The Sources of Intentionality (OUP 2011)
- Externalism and the extended mind: is what goes on in a mind fixed by what’s inside the head? — Mark Rowlands & Joe Lau, SEP: Externalism About the Mind
- Artificial minds: can LLMs, RL agents or brain emulations have mental states? — PhilPapers: Artificial Minds (editor Bradford Saad)
Key categories (PhilPapers)
Philosophy of Consciousness · Intentionality · Perception · Metaphysics of Mind · Mental States and Processes — see Sub-topics.
Introductions (per PhilPapers)
Braddon-Mitchell & Jackson 2006; Kim 1996; Searle 2004; Chalmers 2002.
Suggested learning path
- Free courses: MIT OCW 24.09 Minds and Machines · Open Yale: Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature
- Core SEP entries: Physicalism · Computational Theory of Mind · Intentionality · Consciousness
- Then: sub-topics Philosophy of Consciousness, Intentionality, Free Will, Extended Cognition
- Researchers and X accounts: to research
My thoughts
Notes here.
Discussion
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