PHIL 40903/409H3/50903-002: Minds & Machines (Spring 2026)
Prof. Eric Funkhouser
MWF 10:45 - 11:35; MAIN 325
Syllabus
Unit: Foundational Issues -- From Dualism to Turing Machines
January 12
Introductions
January 14
SEP, "Dualism" (Intro, 1, 2.4, 3.1-3.4, and 4.2)
January 16
Cont'd
January 19
MLK Holiday
January 21
Jefferson, "The Mind of Mechanical Man"
January 23
SEP, "Turing Machines" (Intro-3.1, and 5)
Some demonstrations and further explanation
January 26
Ada Lovelace and the First Computer Program
Grad Students: Turing, "On Computable Numbers..." (Sections 1-8)
January 28
Turing, "Computing Machinery and Intelligence"
January 30
Stryker (IBM), "What Are LLMs?"
Kayyam et al., "The Illusion of Computation..." (pp. 1-8)
Unit: Functionalism & the Computational Theory of Mind
February 2
Block, "What is Functionalism?"
February 4
Putnam, "Philosophy and Our Mental Life"
February 6
Cont'd
February 9
TBA
February 11
TBA
February 13
TBA
February 16
TBA
February 18
TBA
February 20
TBA
February 23
TBA
February 25
TBA
February 27
TBA
March 2
Cont'd/Review
March 4
Midterm, Day 1
March 6
Midterm, Day 2
Unit: AI & Cognition
March 9
TBA
March 11
TBA
March 13
TBA
March 16
TBA
March 18
TBA
March 20
TBA
March 23-27: No Class -- Spring Break
March 30
TBA
April 1
TBA
April 3
TBA
April 6
TBA
April 8
TBA
April 10
TBA
Unit: AI & Consciousness
April 13
Schneider et al., “Is AI Conscious? A Primer…”
April 15
Cont'd
April 17
Chalmers, “Could an LLM be Conscious?”
April 20
Butlin et al., "Identifying Indicators of Consciousness in AI Systems"
April 22
Chen et al., “Exploring Consciousness in LLMs…”
April 24
Cont'd
Grad Students: Schwitzgebel & Pober, “…The Mimicry Argument Against Robot Consciousness”
April 27
Berg et al., “LLMs Report Subjective Experience…” (pp. 1-16)
April 29
Cont'd/Review
Final Exam Review Sheet
Wednesday, May 6: 10:15 - 12:15
Final Exam