PHIL 840.001 – Research Seminar in Philosophy of Mind

Instructor: Carla Merino-Rajme. This course meets R 1:00 – 3:30 p.m. in CW 213.

An intentional state is, roughly, a state that is about something—for instance, you can have beliefs about the color of the sky, the duration of an event, or the size of the universe. A conscious state is, roughly, a state that feels a certain way—using Thomas Nagel’s expression, there is something that it is like to feel hungry, smell banana pudding, or see bright orange. Accounting for the nature of intentionality and for the nature of consciousness, independently from one another, has proven to be challenging. Recently, however, philosophers have argued that these are not independent features of the mental. Is this right? If so, how do they relate to one another? Does this alleged relationship pose further challenges to the metaphysical accounts of these phenomena? In this seminar, we will discuss recent literature that addresses these and related issues.