Bitte beachten Sie das geänderte Format.
The problem of consciousness has led to some of the most vigorous and controversial debates of modern science. While some authors claim that we are about to solve the problem, others maintain that the problem is unsolvable, in principle.
In this seminar we want to take something like a meta perspective in order to understand why consciousness is such a controversial issue. In order to do so, we will try to better understand the historical background of the debate both in early modern philosophy and in the Post World War era. The main focus of the seminar will then be on epistemological aspects, particularly on the requirements for an adequate explanation of consciousness. In the last part we will discuss recent empirical contributions that may enhance our understanding of the problem.
Taylor, E. (2016). "Explanation and the Explanatory Gap." Acta Analytica 31(1): 77-88; Pauen, M. (2017). "The Functional Mapping Hypothesis." Topoi 36(1): 107-118; Haynes, J. D. (2014). "An information-based approach to consciousness: Mental state decoding."; Michel, M. and J. Morales (2019). "Minority Reports: Consciousness and the Prefrontal Cortex." Mind and Language: 1-21.
Termin folgt
External master students (i.e. master students of other programs of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, master students of other universities in Berlin or Brandenburg, or people not enrolled at a university in Berlin or Brandenburg at all) may acquire credits in the “Mind and Brain” Master's program only in the following way:
Attendance of seminars as part of the module "Focus Theme Mind and Brain": 10 ECTS Requirements: Two seminars must be regularly attended and presentations made (or other course requirements fulfilled) + a 20-page paper must be written (1 page = 2,000 characters without spaces) in one of the two seminars. The two seminars do not have to be attended in the same semester.
Credits from the "Mind and Brain" program cannot be acquired in any other way!
Please note that attendance certificates or credits for other course requirements fulfilled will not be awarded, in particular credits/certificates for attendance of single seminars and/or shorter papers will not be awarded. Seminars in our program must be attended as part of a module, which means that two seminars related to a module must be attended.
Please be aware that you may not combine a lecture/tutorial and a seminar in a module.
Master students of Humboldt-Universität have to register for the exams online in Agnes. Master students of other universities have to contact the "Mind and Brain" master registrar's office (Prüfungsbüro) to register: mb-admin@hu-berlin.de
The registration period is 4 weeks long and ends 1 week prior to the exam date / paper deadline.
NB: Bachelor students cannot acquire credits in the Master’s program “Mind and Brain”.
Students who are not enrolled at the Humboldt-Universität may attend the courses mentioned above as a visiting student (Nebenhörer). Those who are not enrolled at a university in Berlin or Brandenburg at all may also attend the courses mentioned above as guest auditors (Gasthörer). For more details, please visit: https://www.hu-berlin.de/de/studium/beratung/merk/gastneben_html
