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Ages: High School

Meets on Zoom on Wednesdays and Fridays, 4:00-5:00pm Pacific Time (7pm Eastern). Starting September 30, 2020.

Led by Paradox Lab founder, Dr. Iris Oved.

In this 8-session discussion class (4 weeks), students will explore some of the big philosophical puzzles about the mind, drawing insights from cognitive science, neuroscience, and robotics.

Refund Policy: Full refund up to 48 hours prior to first session. Prorated for missed sessions upon request.

****Note: For this class to work, we must have at minimum 3 students enrolled. If this minimum is not reached by 48 hours prior to the first session, we will cancel and issue a full refund.

Details and Schedule:

Each lesson will include the following 5 parts, commonly used in Philosophy for Children classes (see https://www.montclair.edu/iapc/what-is-philosophy-for-children/).

(1) Stimulus: We will start with a thought experiment or a lesson from neuroscience, psychology, and/or robotics.

(2) Questions: Students will collect a list of questions, generated by the instructor or by the students themselves.

(3) Vote: Students will choose a question to discuss together.

(4) Inquiry: Students will take turns making contributions and labeling them (hypothesis, reason, challenge, assumption, observation, analogy, distinction, clarification, etc.), calling on one another, and filling out an Inquiry Diagram to map the discussion.

(5) Evaluate: Students will then reflect on the discussion, sharing whether they felt heard, listened to others, and thought it was productive, fair, open, and respectful.

WEEKLY TOPICS

WEEK 1: Intro and the Mind-Brain Problem

-Wed Sept 30: Introductions, Overview, Ground Rules, Intellectual Safety. Inquiry 1: Robot Granny.

-Fri Oct 2: You vs. your brain? Inquiry 2.

WEEK 2: Minds vs Machines

-Wed Oct 7: Robot demo. Do robots have minds? Inquiry 3.

-Fri Oct 9: They’re Made Out Of Meat (Terrry Bisson). Inquiry 4.

WEEK 3: Qualia

-Wed Oct 14: Color Perception: Can a machine experience color? Inquiry 5.

-Fri Oct 16: Flavor Perception: Does a strawberry taste the same to you as it does to others? Inquiry 6.

WEEK 4: Fun Thought Experiments

-Wed Oct 21: Thought Experiment: Zombies OR Brain of Theseus. Inquiry 7.

-Fri Oct 23: Thought Experiment: Daniel Dennett’s “Where Am I?” Inquiry 8.

Learning Goals: Students will explore philosophical puzzles about the mind and learn some of the relevant science about brains and robots. More importantly, students will learn skills that apply across all forms of inquiry: how to formulate questions, entertain multiple hypotheses, find reasons and challenges for the hypotheses, and how to evaluate evidence. They will also gain skills for self-reflection, self-expression, listening, and perspective-taking.

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After purchase, look for an email from The Paradox Lab with the Zoom link for this class.