Course Description
This seminar will explore the philosophies that have contributed to our belief that Turing equivalent computers can achieve human-like intelligence and contrasting philosophies of consciousness, which challenge that belief. We will follow parallel tracks of reading along two branches of philosophy, dualism and monism, to gain a comparative understanding of each viewpoint. On the dualist side we will start from Descartes and Kant, working forward to 20th century mechanistic models of intelligence and some more recent work that reexamines this approach. On the monist side we will primarily rely on a text by the early 20th century Austrian philosopher, Rudolf Steiner, which surveys dualism and monist and proposes a new form of monism. Students will be expected to read roughly one paper and one book chapter per week, writing summaries of the reading and preparing discussion questions. This will involve four to eight hours of work outside of class per week. For the dualist track, each week, one or two students will prepare a paper more extensively and lead the discussion. Grading is thus based on in-person attendance, reading summaries and questions, and leading one discussion. There are no exams. The book and papers will be provided.
CmpSci 491P
Fall 2026
Philosophy of AI and Consciousness