1. Why are autonomy and responsibility socially
important?"
2. Does causality undermine autonomy and responsibility?
3. Do emotions decrease control and responsibility?
4. Is reason the slave of the passions? Should the passions be
the slave of reason?
5. What do patients like EVR show about the nature of decision
making?
6. Is neurobiology relevant to understanding rational thought?
7. If actions are caused by emotions, what are the implications
for ethical questions about responsibility?
1. Why have economists neglected emotions?
2. How do emotions sustain social norms?
3. Do emotions contribute to biological fitness or social optimality?
4. Can emotions fit into the standard model of rationality?
5. Are emotions always/sometimes/never rational?
6. Should economic theory be reformed to take emotions into account?
7. (Thagard) What is the appropriate role of emotion and intuition
in decision making? Is the Informed Intuition model descriptively
and normatively adequate?
1. Why is the role of emotions in moral theory
controversial?
2. Are emotions deliberate? Are they under voluntary control?
3. Are emotions compatible with free choice?
4. Are emotions morally valuable?
5. Do emotions help us to resolve conflicting moral duties?
6. What limits need to placed on the moral weight of emotions?
7. Are we morally responsible for our emotions?
1. Is the law a bastion of reason? Should it
be?
2. Should emotions be taken into account in the evaluation of
wrongful acts? Are hate crimes worse than other crimes?
3. What emotions affect the decisions of judges and juries? Which
of these should emotions should affect decisions?
4. Should judges and juries be emotional at all?
5. How should the law of evidence take emotions into account?
6. (Thagard) Did the jury in the Simpson case let emotions affect
their judgment, and should they have let their conclusion be emotional?
1. Are emotions social constructed?
2. How are emotions and values related?
3. Why has Western epistemology viewed emotion with suspicion?
4. Should there be a feminist epistemology?
5. How might appropriate emotions contribute to the development
of knowledge?
6. Does philosophy require a love of wisdom?
7. (Thagard) Are scientists emotional? Should they be?
1. What is the relation between emotions and
feelings?
2. To what extent do emotion words vary across different languages?
Does this show that emotions vary across different cultures?
3. Can feelings be described through prototypes?
4. Are emotions disruptive episodes or vital forces?
5. Has the English "emotional universe" changed over
the centuries?
6. Are emotions socially constructed?
7. How can emotions be subject to cross-cultural investigation?
8. If emotions vary across cultures, what should we conclude about
the relation of reason and emotion?
1. What is it to feel an emotion?
2. What neural patterns produce feelings?
3. Do we really have feelings of feelings?
4. How do feelings depend on bodies?
5. Are there unconscious emotions?
6. Are consciousness and emotions representational?
7. To what degree is Damasio's biological approach to consciousness
compatible with the view that emotions are culturally influenced?
1. Students taking this course for
credit must hand in a research essay, approximately 20 pages in
length (typed, double spaced, about 6000 words), by 2 p.m on Friday,
Dec. 8. Late essays will be penalized 10%.
2. The essay must be on a topic approved in advance. No later
than Nov. 1, submit a 1-page description of your proposed essay,
including a title, 1-paragraph description, and short list of
potential sources.
3. On Nov. 8, I will hand out a schedule for student presentations
for Nov. 15, 22, and 29, organized by topic.
Time available will depend on the number of presentations, but
I am expecting that each student will have time for a 20 minute
presentation followed by about 10 minutes of questions and discussion.
Useful link on ethics and emotions:
http://www.michaelspeer.com/emotions/
(and see my argument at the Web page available from the Emotion
& Reason page: http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca/courses/Phil255/Phil255.week12.html)
1. Could a computer do moral reasoning?
2. Would we want there to be a computer that does moral reasoning?
3. Would a moral computer have to be an emotional computer?
4. Could a computer develop emotional consciousness?
5. If it did, would its emotional consciousness be like ours?
6. Should the development of intelligent computers be prohibited?
Emotion and Reason: Symposia Schedule
HH 357
November 15
Mark Poulton: Reason, emotion, and
personality
Baljinder Sahdra: Emotions, reason, and the self
Marcia Sokolowski: Emotion, reason, and therapy
Robert Zhu: Feeling and coherence
November 22
Kim Baltzer: Literary art and the role of emotion and reason
Derek From: Musical meanings
Nola Semczyszyn: Reasoned intuition, beauty, meaning, and works
of art
Irene Switankowsky: Emotional intelligence
November 29
Ian Montgomerie: Emotions and optimal decision making
Simon Weigh: Belief, doubt, and the role of emotion in religion
Chris White: The evolutions of the emotions as a commitment device
David Witherow: The role of empathy in moral theory
December 6
Christine Freeman: Sympathy and rights
Josef Nerb: Cognitive and emotional evaluation of environmental
accidents.
Paul Thagard: Doubt, intuition, and emotion
Format
Each talk will be 20 minutes, followed by 5-10 minutes of
discussion and constructive comments. Do not read a paper:
talk with a handout or overheads (I have arranged for a projector).
Talks will not be evaluated the purpose of the symposia
is to help people develop their ideas.