Philosophy 290-1

There will be three components to the seminar: (1) The nature of causation and the idea of a ‘level’ of explanation. Here we will look in particular at the interventionist model of causation advocated by, among others, Woodward and Hitchcock. (2) Causation as it applies to mental states. In particular, we will consider the analysis of perception, and whether it makes a difference to the causal role of perception that perceptual states are often conscious. This will mean looking at various models of the content of conscious perception. (3) The role of rationality in an analysis of mental causation. Here we will look at mental causation in psychiatry, and whether there is a place for an assumption of rationality in cases of, for example, delusion. We will also look at the view of thinking as a motor process.