Professor Johannes Mahr
jmahr@yorku.ca
Office Location:  N824 Ross Building
Office Hours:  Virtual office hours: The instructor’s office hours will be on Thur, 4pm (via Zoom) or you can schedule individual meetings via calendly.com/j_mahr

Philosophy of neuroscience investigates how neuroscience and philosophy can mutually enrich each other. On the one hand, it concerns questions in the philosophy of science: how does neuroscience explain, what is the relationship between psychological and neuroscientific explanation, and how should we explain phenomena in these domains?

On the other hand, many neuroscientific advances have relevance for traditional philosophical questions: what is the ontological status of folk psychology, how can neuroscience help us understand the contents of mental representations, and how do contemporary models of neural computation illuminate the nature of the human mind?

In this course we will dip our toes into each of these questions and many more, hoping to emerge with a better understanding of the methods, problems, and promises of neuroscience. [Syllabus will be subject to change]

Technical requirements for taking the course: Students need to be able to access the course eClass website and submit work there electronically.

Times and locations: Mondays, 2:30-5:30 pm; Accolade Building West 209, Keele Campus

Virtual office hours: The instructor’s office hours will be on Thur, 4pm (via Zoom) or you can schedule individual meetings via calendly.com/j_mahr

A reading schedule will be posted with the syllabus and the readings for each week will be made available on the course eClass.

Attendance and Participation: 10%

Attendance: Attendance will be checked at the beginning of every class. You will be allowed three unexcused absences in the course of the term. Any further absences need to be excused with a doctor’s note or through the university’s accommodations services – otherwise they will lead to a fail grade in this category.

Participation: Participation begins with a careful reading of the material. It is very hard to discuss material that no one has read or given much thought to. In the classroom, participation is not about quantity. The best philosopher is not the one who speaks most. But it isn’t exactly about quality either. Our discussions would be terrible if we each only spoke up when we were sure that we had something deeply profound to offer. Rather, the key to participation, and to good discussions, is (aside from preparation) honesty. If you honestly don’t understand something, you should be brave and say so. When something is hard to understand it is often just as likely to be due to a genuine unclarity in the author’s reasoning than in your own. We’re trying to figure out what these authors are saying and why they’re saying it. Be honest in stating what you do understand (or think you understand) and what you don’t understand, and together we’ll try to figure it all out.

Reading Responses: 40% (Due at noon day of class)

You will be asked to submit 6 short reading responses (worth 10% each) that will address topics that arise in the weekly assigned readings. These will be no more than 500 words, submitted to Turnitin BY NOON on the day of class where we will discuss the relevant readings. See Reading Schedule for specific dates. The last two of these responses will be optional – at the end of the term, the best 4 of your responses will count towards your grade.

Paper outline 10%(Due March 4^th)

You will be asked to submit an outline for your final paper idea, no more than 2 double-spaced pages, that includes an abstract with thesis statement and outline of the main argumentative strategy, and a short literature review. Take this seriously as this will be an opportunity for you to get feedback on your idea/plan for your final paper.

Final Paper 40%(Due April 10th)

Submit a final, 3000 words (max) paper to Turnitin, normal formatting and APA citation rules apply. The paper can be on any question that came up in the readings or discussion in the course of the term.

The course will take place in the form of weekly discussion-focused seminars.

• Familiarity with the major issues in the philosophy of neuroscience.
• Ability to critically evaluate methodology in cognitive neuroscience.
• Ability to produce coherent and original philosophical writing at an advanced undergraduate level.

Additional Information:

Attendance: Attendance will be checked at the beginning of every class. You will be allowed three unexcused absences in the course of the term. Any further absences need to be excused with a doctor’s note or through the university’s accommodations services – otherwise they will lead to a fail grade in this category.

Participation: Participation begins with a careful reading of the material. It is very hard to discuss material that no one has read or given much thought to. In the classroom, participation is not about quantity. The best philosopher is not the one who speaks most. But it isn’t exactly about quality either. Our discussions would be terrible if we each only spoke up when we were sure that we had something deeply profound to offer. Rather, the key to participation, and to good discussions, is (aside from preparation) honesty. If you honestly don’t understand something, you should be brave and say so. When something is hard to understand it is often just as likely to be due to a genuine unclarity in the author’s reasoning than in your own. We’re trying to figure out what these authors are saying and why they’re saying it. Be honest in stating what you do understand (or think you understand) and what you don’t understand, and together we’ll try to figure it all out.

Reading Responses: (Due at noon, day of class – every second class)

You will be asked to submit 6 short reading responses (worth 10% each) that will address topics that arise in the weekly assigned readings. These will be no more than 500 words, submitted to Turnitin BY NOON on the day of class where we will discuss the relevant readings. See Reading Schedule for specific dates. The last two of these responses will be optional – at the end of the term, the best 4 of your responses will count towards your grade.

Paper outline (Due March 4^th)

You will be asked to submit an outline for your final paper idea, no more than 2 double-spaced pages, that includes an abstract with thesis statement and outline of the main argumentative strategy, and a short literature review. Take this seriously as this will be an opportunity for you to get feedback on your idea/plan for your final paper.

Final Paper (Due April 10th)

Submit a final, 3000 words (max) paper to Turnitin, normal formatting and APA citation rules apply. The paper can be on any question that came up in the readings or discussion in the course of the term.

Special Accommodations

I’m committed to fairly accommodating students with disabilities in accordance with York Senate Policy. Students with disabilities should register with Student Accessibility Services and contact me as early in the term as possible with their Letter of Accommodation (LOA). Sufficient notice is needed so that reasonable steps for accommodation can be discussed and arranged.

Academic Integrity

All forms of academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, will be taken extremely seriously. Students are expected to be familiar with York’s policy regarding academic integrity, which can be found at https://gradstudies.yorku.ca/current-students/regulations/academic-honesty/.