PHIL 242 Minds, Agents, and Persons

An introduction to the study of the mind and its relation to the body, the nature of human agency action, and personal identity. Questions to be investigated include: Is the mind identical to the brain, or is it something separate and immaterial? Is it possible for computers to think, to have consciousness, and to engage in actions that can be assessed as right or wrong? What makes someone the same person at two different times? Could you continue to exist after the death of your brain with a prosthetic brain, carbon or silicon based, into which your beliefs, desires, and memories have been infused?