Phil 4084 Summer 2008

Animals and Philosophy of Mind

Professor: Dr. Kristin Andrews

Office: S420 Ross

Office Hours: Tuesday and Wednesday 12-12:45

Email: please send email from within WebCT so that it doesn't end up in my overzealous spam filter

Note: To access WebCT follow the instructions at:

http://www.yorku.ca/fsc/webct/student/quickstart.htm

In this course we will look at some of the philosophical issues about mind and cognition arising from the existence of nonhuman animals. We will examine ontological issues about whether nonhuman animals have minds, beliefs, or concepts. From a philosophy of science perspective we will look at methodological approaches to studying animal minds. And we will look at three issues in philosophy that can be informed by what we know about animal behavior and physiology: language, morality, and theory of mind/social cognition.

Texts: Most of the readings will be available on the course WebCT site. You are also required to obtain the following books. I strongly advise checking the prices at amazon.com and amazon.ca before purchasing the books in the bookstore.

Sara J. Shettleworth Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior

Colin Allen & Marc Bekoff Species of Mind: The Philosophy and Biology of Cognitive Ethology

Assignments:

Reading responses

Paper

Final exam

Reading Responses: For 9 of the 11 classes with readings, you must mail me from within WebCT a critical response to the reading due by midnight before the class meeting. If you do not send me the reading response within WebCT by midnight, you will get a 0 for that reading, regardless of any situations that have presented themselves. No make-ups (but remember, you can skip responding to any 2 of the 11 reading sets). You are free to send me your responses as far in advance of the class as you like. The responses must demonstrate that you did the reading and have thought critically about it. They cannot be simply a summary of the reading, but should offer a critique or additional support in favor some aspect of the reading. Do not attempt to cover all the reading; it is sufficient to focus on one aspect.

Paper: 10-12 page paper on a topic related to the readings in this course. The topic is of your own choosing. However, this paper will be an analytical philosophy paper, in which you defend a thesis and critique or defend the claims of one of the authors. You will be expected to use the tools and the knowledge that you have gained in subsequent weeks when writing your paper. Due in class June 9.

Test:

On the last day of class there will be a closed book test of the terms and concepts studied in the class. You will be asked to apply these terms and concepts, as well as analyze arguments related to the different views and methods we have discussed. The test will include multiple choice, short answer, and short essay questions.

Grading:

To be eligible to receive an A in the course, students must complete all three assignments, which will be equally weighted. The necessary condition to receive a B in the course is to complete the paper and the test. If you want to aim for a B, you need not do the reading responses. If you want to aim for a C in the course, you can take the test only; no additional work is required. Please note that your mark will still depend on the quality of your work. If you decide not to do the reading responses, and you make an A on the paper and the test, you will receive a B for the course nonetheless. If you make a B on the paper and the test, you will likewise receive a B. And if you make a B on the paper and a C on the test, you will receive a C+.

Plagiarism: Plagiarized papers will be reported to the Dean's office, and I will recommend that the penalty for plagiarism be failing the course. I take plagiarism very seriously, and I am very good at finding plagiarized papers, so don't be tempted. You are required to know the information on plagiarism presented at York's tutorial on academic integrity, which is available at: http://www.yorku.ca/tutorial/academic_integrity/

Not knowing what counts as plagiarism is not an excuse.

This schedule is subject to change. I will post any updates to this schedule on WebCT

Date	Topic	Reading
May 5	The problem of other minds
May 7	Rationality, concepts and belief	Davidson "Rational Animals" Stich "Do Animals Have Beliefs?"
May 12	Rationality, concepts and belief	Dennett "Do Animals Have Beliefs?" Allen "Animal Concepts Revisited: The Use of Self-Monitoring as an Empirical Approach"
May 14	Anthropomorphism	Blumberg & Wasserman "Animal Mind and the Argument from Design." Sober "Comparative Psychology meets Evolutionary Biology: Morgan's Canon and Cladistic Parsimony."
May 19	The science of animal minds	Shettleworth Ch. 1 "Cognition, Evolution, and the Study of Behavior"
May 21	The science of animal minds	Allen & Bekoff Species of Mind Ch. 1-3
May 26	The science of animal minds	Allen & Bekoff Ch. 4-5
May 28	The science of animal minds	Allen & Bekoff Ch. 6-7
June 2	The science of animal minds	Allen & Bekoff Ch. 8-9
June 4	Issue 1: Language	Chomsky "Human language and other semiotic systems" Lloyd "Kanzi, Evolution, and Language" (Shettleworth Ch. 12 recommended)
June 9	Issue 2: Intentionality and theory of mind	Shettleworth Ch. 11 "Cognitive Ethology and the Evolution of Mind"
June 11	Issue 3: Altruism	Shettleworth p. 173-182 Silk et al. "Chimpanzees Are Indifferent To The Welfare Of Unrelated Group Members" Warneken et al. "Spontaneous Altruism by Chimpanzees and Young Children"
June 16		FINAL EXAM