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Instructor: Alva Noë (Moses 303A)
510 643 8412 \ noe@socrates.berkeley.edu \ socrates.berkeley.edu/~noe
Office Hours: Thursday, 3:30-5:30 pm
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The topic of this seminar is the argument from illusion, direct realism, and the nature of perceptual consciousness. Among the questions we shall ask are: Is perception a mode of direct awareness of a mind-independent reality? What are the objects of perception? What is given to perceptual consciousness?
This is a research seminar designed primarily for graduate students in philosophy.
REQUIREMENTS [ top ]
Students taking this course for credit will write a term paper due no later than one week after the last day of class.
In addition, all participants (including auditors) will write short essays (approximately 2 pages in length) for each meeting of the seminar (except for three, of their own choosing). These short papers are to be handed in at the beginning of each meeting. Each week some students will be asked to present their papers to the class.
Late daily papers will not be accepted. Term papers can be handed in late only by prior arrangement. To pass this course, all requirements must be met.
READINGS [ top ]
The seminar will be structured around the close reading of (parts of) four books and several articles. The books are:
THE PROBLEM OF PERCEPTION, by A.D. Smith. Harvard University Press. 2002.
REFERENCE AND CONSCIOUSNESS, by John Campbell. Oxford University Press. 2002.
CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE WORLD, by Brian O'Shaughnessy. OUP. 2000.
ACTION IN PERCEPTION, by Alva Noë. The MIT Press, 2004.
ROUGH SCHEDULE [ top ]
This is only a sketch of the schedule. Depending on the course of our investigations, it may be necessary (and the instructor reserves the right) to alter the plan of the course.
NOTE: During the weeks of 9/6, 9/13, 10/25 and 11/22 class will meet on Tuesday from 6 - 8 pm in Moses 234.
I The Argument from Illusion (approximately 5 weeks)
A.D. Smith's THE PROBLEM OF PERCEPTION.
II Disjunctivism (approximately 7 weeks)
Paul Snowdon, Perception, vision and causation, in Noë & Thompson (eds.), VISION AND MIND. MIT. 2002. (On reserve in Howison.)
John McDowell, Singular thought and the extent of inner space, in Pettit and McDowell (eds.), SUBJECT, THOUGHT AND CONTEXT. Oxford University Press. 1986; also published in J. McDowell, MEANING, KNOWLEDGE AND REALITY. Harvard University Press. 1998. (On reserve in Howison.)
M.G.F. Martin. The limits of self-awareness. PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES , July 2004, vol. 120/1-3: 37-89. (Available online.)
Mark Johnston. The obscure object of hallucination. PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES , July 2004, vol. 120/1-3, pp. 113-183. (Available online.)
John Campbell, REFERENCE AND CONSCIOUSNESS. Oxford University Press. 2002. Chapters 1, 2, 6, 7, and 12.
III Sense Data and the Given (approximately 4 weeks)
Brian O'Shaughnessy. CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE WORLD. Oxford University Press. 2000. Part III: Seeing.
Term papers are due one week after the last meeting of the seminar, by 5 pm, in the instructor's mailbox in Moses 214.