PHIL 40903/409H3/50903-002: Minds & Machines (Spring 2026)
Prof. Eric Funkhouser
MWF 10:45 - 11:35; MAIN 325
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)
Topic: The Nature of Mind and the Plausibility of Dualism
January 16
Cont'd
Topic: A Brief History of Major Positions in the Philosophy of Mind
January 19
MLK Holiday
January 21
Jefferson, "The Mind of Mechanical Man" *Notes*
Topic: Physical Automata, But Not Psychological Automata
January 23
SEP, "Turing Machines" (Intro-3.1, and 5)
Some demonstrations and further explanation *Notes*
Topic: Demonstrations of Turing Machine Programs
January 26
Ada Lovelace and the First Computer Program
A fun video on Babbage's computing engines
Grad Students: Turing, "On Computable Numbers..." (Sections 1-8)
Topic: Algorithms and Computer Programs
First In-Class Reflection
January 28
Turing, "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" (Skip Sec. 5 and ESP stuff) *Notes*
Topic: The Turing Test
January 30
Stryker (IBM), "What Are LLMs?"
Kayyam et al., "The Illusion of Computation..." (pp. 1-8) *Notes*
Topic: Looking Ahead to LLMs
Unit: Functionalism & the Computational Theory of Mind
February 2
Block, "What is Functionalism?" *Notes*
Topic: Varieties of Functionalism
February 4
Putnam, "Philosophy and Our Mental Life"
Topic: Moving on from Turing Machine Functionalism
February 6
Cont'd
February 9
Block, "Troubles with Functionalism" (Excerpts)
Topic: Objections to Functionalism, Part 1
February 11
Searle, "Minds, Brains, and Programs" (pp. 1-8)
Topic: Objections to Functionalism, Part 2
February 13
Cont'd
Second In-Class Reflection
February 16
Pylyshyn, Computation and Cognition (Chapter 1)
Topic: Cognitive Explanations
February 18
Pylyshyn, Computation and Cognition (Chapter 2)
Topic: Representations and Computation
February 20
Cont'd
First Short Paper Due
February 23
Millière & Buckner, "A Philosophical Introduction to Language Models Part I"
Topic: Classical Cognitive Science and LLMs
February 25
Cont'd
February 27
Millière & Buckner, "A Philosophical Introduction to Language Models Part II"
Topic: New Issues Raised by LLMs
Midterm Review Sheet
March 2
Cont'd/Review
March 4
Midterm, Day 1
March 6
Midterm, Day 2
Unit: AI & Cognition
March 9
Anthropic, “Tracing the Thoughts of an LLM”
Topic: Introducing LLM Cognition
March 11
Lindsey et al., “On the Biology of a Large Language Model”
Topic: A Deeper Dive
March 13
Cont'd
March 16
Anthropic, “Persona Vectors…”
Topic: LLM Personalities, Part 1
March 18
Chen et al., “Persona Vectors…” (pp. 1-14)
Topic: LLM Personalities, Part 2
March 20
Cont'd
Third In-Class Reflection
March 23-27: No Class -- Spring Break
March 30
Lavazza et al., “Minds of Their Own?...”
Topic: Can LLMs Have Free Will?!
April 1
Hicks et al., “ChatGPT is Bullshit”
Topic: LLM Bullshitters
April 3
Cont'd
April 6
Binder et al., "Looking Inward..."
Topic: LLM Introspection, Part 1
April 8
Anthropic, “Signs of Introspection in LLMs”
Grad Students: Lindsey, “Emergent Introspective Awareness in LLMs”
Topic: LLM Introspection, Part 2
April 10
Cont'd
Fourth In-Class Reflection
Unit: AI & Consciousness
April 13
Schneider et al., “Is AI Conscious? A Primer…”
Topic: Introducing the Problems of AI Consciousness
April 15
Cont'd
April 17
Chalmers, “Could an LLM be Conscious?”
Topic: The Case for Plausibility
April 20
Butlin et al., "Identifying Indicators of Consciousness in AI Systems"
Topic: Methodological Recommendations
April 22
Chen et al., “Exploring Consciousness in LLMs…”
Topic: Empirical Approaches to LLM Consciousness
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)
Topic: Consciousness and Roleplaying
April 29
Cont'd/Review
Final Exam Review Sheet
Second Short Paper Due
Wednesday, May 6: 10:15 - 12:15
Final Exam