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The Taming of the Mind

Vak
2009-2010

Description

Conventional wisdom on mind and media sees the conscious mind as a private workspace for coining and processing mental contents (beliefs, desires, feelings), prior to any expression of these in public media (speech, writing, print, graphics). The mental content management system is considered largely a natural affair, independent of changing media-landscapes. Contrary to the standard view we shall consider the possibility that the development of new epistemic practices closely tied to historical transitions in the media-landscape has decisively shaped the organization of conscious mental activity as we know it. Examples include the development of dialectical and mnemonic techniques, late medieval hermeneutics, Renaissance educational reform, and the invention of systems for rational manipulation of context-free contents often associated with printing-press and Enlightenment.

Teaching method

Lecture

Admission requirements

BA level knowledge of philosophy of mind and/or cognitive science.

Course objectives

Course objectives will be made available on Blackboard at the start of the course.

Required reading

To be announced

Test method

  • presentations (25%)

  • short paper (25%)

  • term paper (50%)

Timetable

See: Timetable MA Philosophy

Information

Dr. Jan Sleutels ( jan@sleutels.com ).

Registration

Please register for this course on U-twist. See registration procedure

Blackboard

Blackboard will be used for study materials.

Remarks

Specialisation: Theoretical Philosophy / History of Philosophy