Fwd: On Our Mind: Zombies Ate My Physicalism! (Monday)

[U of T Friends of Wisdom]

The below event might interest you since some of the discussion questions are addressed in Nick Maxwell's book Cutting God in Half. (Search for "zombie" in the pdf). 

Hope to see you there!

-Daniel

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Adam Golding <adamg...@adamgolding.com>
Date: Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 4:05 PM
Subject: On Our Mind: Zombies Ate My Physicalism! (Monday)
To: COGSC...@listserv.utoronto.ca


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On Our Mind: Zombies Ate My Physicalism!

Public · By Simon Cook

https://www.facebook.com/events/119237004932266/

• • 

    Monday, March 25, 2013
  • 

    4:30pm

• [Where] UC43 or nearby

• Our topic this week is philosophical zombies, and what they mean for physicalism. Imagine a world physically exactly like our own, except that in this world there is nothing with what we consider conscious experience. That world would be filled with philosophical zombies, things that behave as if they have a conscious phenomenological experience, but do not. Are philosophical zombies possible? Are they conceivable? We will also be considering the related question of why are we not philosophical zombies? What does this mean for the nature of consciousness? This discussion group is about improving your cognitive toolkit with ideas to help you think better. Open to anyone who is interested in bettering themselves and their thinking through discussion, we will be exploring some of the important ideas in modern cognitive science. If a topic is new to you, then come and find out why others think it is so important as a tool for understanding the mind. For those who think they are already familiar with a topic, you are encouraged to come and perhaps find gaps in your knowledge, refine your pedagogical tools for explaining the idea to others, and perhaps gain new insights into the topic from criticism offered by others. ***STATIC INFORMATION (Information below this line doesn't change much from week to week.)*** WHAT IS COGNITIVE SCIENCE AND WHAT IS CASA? ------------------------------------------------------------------ CASA (www.cogsci.ca) is the Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence Student's Association. Cognitive Science is "the interdisciplinary study of the mind", and includes studies in Philosophy, Psychology, Linguistics, and (optionally) Computer Science. Our activities are aimed at anyone who studies -any- of those subjects, or related areas, such as Anthropology, Neuroscience, Semiotics, or HPS, especially those who have interdisciplinary interests in many of those areas. The majority of our events take place in the CASA office (see below). THE CASA OFFICE (UC 43) ----------------------------------- The CASA office is where Cognitive Science happens at UofT. It's UC43, in the basement of University College near the North-East corner. Stop by and discuss Cognitive Science with other weary travelers, peruse our library, eat your lunch, or just ruminate on your next destination. There are often a number of persons in the office at a given time, and we aim to have the office open from 2-6, Monday to Friday.

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