COGS 308 Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Cognitive Science

In the second half of the 20th century, the new field of cognitive science came into existence. This course explores the developments in the history of philosophy, mathematics, biology, psychology, and computer science that culminated in this new science of the mind, including the theory of computation, from the work of Leibniz in the 17th century, the pioneering work on computing and programming by Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace in the late 19th century, to Turing's work in the early 20th century. We will explore how developments in both theoretical and applied computer science and logic led to the field of artificial intelligence and computational neuroscience, and we'll explore the philosophical questions about the possibility and scope of machine intelligence. One prior course in cognitive science, philosophy, or mathematics is recommended.