Course Information
Course title
 Philosophical & Neurobiological Perspectives on Moral Responsibility & Free Will 
Semester
 109-1 
Designated for
 COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS  GRADUATE INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY  
Instructor
 CHRISTIAN HELMUT WENZEL 
Curriculum Number
 Phl7565 
Curriculum Identity Number
 124EM7990 
Class
  
Credits
 3.0 
Full/Half
Yr.
 Half 
Required/
Elective
 Elective 
Time
 Thursday A,B,C(18:25~21:05) 
Remarks
 The upper limit of the number of students: 15. 
  
Course introduction video
 
Table of Core Capabilities and Curriculum Planning
 Table of Core Capabilities and Curriculum Planning
Course Syllabus
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Course Description

We will read the book “Did My Neurons Make Me Do It? Philosophical and Neurobiological Perspectives on Moral Responsibility and Free Will,” by Nancy Murphy & Warren S. Brown, OUP 2007. This book is about the mind-body problem and questions such as, how the mind evolved in a physical world; whether the mind can be identified with the brain; how reasons can be causes; whether there is something like “downward causation;” how intentionality, thought, language, and meaning might be “realized” in a physical-biological world and whether it might also be “reduced” to it; and how all these questions and their answers affect questions about free will and moral responsibility. We will draw on ideas from systems theory, neuroscience, evolution theory, linguistics, artificial intelligence, connectivism, representation theory, phenomenology, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mind. 

Course Objective
 The course objective is to arrive at a better understanding of mind, brain, language, intentionality, evolution, physicalism, inter-subjectivity; and then to consider questions about free will and moral responsibility. 
Course Requirement
 Attendance is expected. If you are absent three times or more without good excuse, you run the risk of failing the course. Please consider the university regulation國立台灣大學學則, page 7. 
Student Workload (expected study time outside of class per week)
  
Office Hours
  
Designated reading
 Our main text is “Did my neurons make me do it? Philosophical and Neurobiological Perspectives on Moral Responsibility and Free Will” by Nancy Murphy & Warren S. Brown, OUP 2007.  
References
 Suggested background readings are:
1. Fred Dretske, “Explaining Behavior: Reasons in a World of Causes,” MIT 1988.
2. Donald M. MacKay, “Behind the Eye,” Blackwell 1991.
3. Terrence D. Deacon, “The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain,” Norton 1997.
4. Alicia Juarrero, “Dynamics in Action: Intentional Behavior as a Complex System,” MIT 1999.
5. Alasdair MacIntyre, “Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues,” Open Court 1999.
6. Christian H. Wenzel “Does Thought Happen in the Brain?” in Mind Language and Action, Kirchberg 2013.
7. Christian H. Wenzel, 康德哲?中: 范?是否在知?中即已?扮演了角色？ 2019, translation of “Spielen nach Kant die Kategorien schon bei der Wahrnehmung eine Rolle? Peter Rohs und John McDowell,” Kant-Studien 96/4 (2005).
8. Christian H. Wenzel, “How Representational is the Mind? Introduction and Overview,” PEW (to appear). 
Grading
  
No.
Item
%
Explanations for the conditions
1. 
 Participation 
30% 
  
2. 
 Midterm exam 
30% 
  
3. 
 Final exam 
40% 
  
 
Progress
Week
Date
Topic
Week 1
 9/17  Introduction 1  
Week 2
 9/24  Introduction 2 
Week 3
 10/01  Avoiding Cartesian Materialism  
Week 4
 10/08  From Causal Reductionism to Self-Directed Systems 1 
Week 5
 10/15  From Causal Reductionism to Self-Directed Systems 2 
Week 6
 10/22  Review 
Week 7
 10/29  Midterm 
Week 8
 11/05  From Mindless to Intelligent Action 
Week 9
 11/12  How Can Neural Nets Mean? 1 
Week 10
 11/19  How Can Neural Nets Mean? 2 
Week 11
 11/26  How does Reason get its Grip on the Brain?  
Week 12
 12/03  Who is Responsible? 
Week 13
 12/10  Neurobiological Reductionism and Free Will 
Week 14
 12/17  Review 
Week 15
 12/24  Final