How is it that our brain creates all the subjective experiences of our lives every single day - the experiences we call reality? That is the mind-body problem. In Mind-Body Philosophy, Professor Patrick Grim of the State University of New York at Stony Brook leads an intellectually exhilarating tour through millennia of philosophy and science addressing one of life's greatest conundrums. But you won't just be a spectator as Dr. Grim engages and encourages each of us to come to our own conclusions. Is the mind part of the body? Or could the body be part of the mind? And if they are separate, what is the mechanism for interaction? This course poses these challenging questions and more, for philosophers and scientists of all levels.
In this course, you'll learn about the many ways in which philosophy, mathematics, psychology, and cutting-edge neuroscience have weighed in on the mind-body problem, all to varying degrees of success. You'll learn how computers and artificial intelligence have challenged our notions of the mind and consciousness and what scientists have learned from our dreams, hallucinations, and experiences under anesthesia. And you'll enjoy the fascinating, creative thought experiments that address knowledge, perception, and consciousness.
What is the answer to the mind-body problem? No one knows... yet. But in Mind-Body Philosophy, Dr. Grim suggests a new method of inquiry that could possibly lead to a solution: a philosophical science of consciousness, combining the best that philosophy and science have to offer. But even without an answer, Dr. Grim says, this passionate pursuit of truth is a crucially important enterprise in itself.
