Phil/Psych 447, Phil 673

Seminar in Cognitive Science

Week 8: Unconscious, reality, parapsychology

Key Ideas

Level of consciousness: experience, self-representation, representation of self-in-society

Conscious vs. unconscious (compare Freud)

Dual processes: system 1 (fast, intuitive, associative, automatic) and system 2 (slow, conscious, deliberate)

Contrastive analysis (Baars): what are the key differences between conscious and unconscious processes?

Reality vs. hallucinations

The paranormal

Discussion Questions

1. How does unconscious perception change our view of consciousness?
2. What is intuition and how seriously should we take it?
3. Is creative thinking largely conscious or unconscious?
4. How are veridical perceptions different from hallucinations?
5. Is there any good evidence for ESP?
6. Why do people find ESP so appealing?
7. How would ESP change our view of the nature of mind?

Links

History of ideas about the unconscious

Dual process theory

Ted talks on how the mind works

Thagard and Stewart on mechanisms of consciousness

Phil/Psych 447

Computational Epistemology Laboratory.

Paul Thagard

This page updated Oct. 28, 2013