Course Overview
How do we know whether our perceptual experiences really are of a real world outside of us? What determines the identity of a person over time? What does it take to be conscious, and how can we tell whether someone or something is? Could radically different languages lead to radically different forms of experience and thought? These are key questions in the philosophical fields of Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, and Philosophy of Language. In this course, we’ll explore these questions (and more) as they arise in works of science fiction and consider the main philosophical proposals for tackling them with an eye to these works. The main works with which we’ll engage will be the films “The Matrix,” “Moon,” “Ex Machina,” and “Arrival,” though there will be many supplementary works of science fiction. Philosophical readings will be drawn from both historical and contemporary sources. pdf of syllabus
Class 1: Introduction
In this class, we consider the role that science fiction can play in philosophy and overview the four main philosophical topics that we'll dive into in the course. Class 1 Handout
Part One: Reality and Skepticism
In this class, we consider classical skepticism about the existence of the external world, most famously laid out in Descartes’s Meditations. We also consider classic replies to skepticism from Bertrand Russell and G.E. Moore. Class 2 Handout
In this class, we look at the question of why it’d be bad if skeptical worries were true, and, in light of this, consider whether all the skeptical science fiction scenarios are problematic to the same degree. Class 3 Handout.
In this class, we consider the specific possibility made vivid through The Matrix: that the world we experience could be a virtual reality—and the influential response by David Chalmers that this is not genuinely a skeptical, but only a metaphysical hypothesis. Class 4 Handout.
Class 5: The Real Possibility of a Virtual World
In this class, we consider an argument from Nick Bostrom that something like the Matrix scenario is not only possible but likely actual. Class 5 Handout.
Part Two: Identity and Individuality
In this class, we look at the classical account of personal of identity proposed by John Locke, considering specifically how it might be applied to the many “Sam”s in Moon. Class 6 Handout.
In this class, we consider Derek Parfit’s influential take on personal identity: that it is not really what matters when it comes to the question of survival. Class 7 Handout.
In this class, we discuss the theory of the the self proposed by Daniel Dennett, looking at how it can be applied to make sense of sci-fi scenarios of duplication and teleportation as well as the “remote embodiment” scenario Dennett describes in “Where am I?” Class 8 Handout.
In this class, we tie our investigations of personal identity in this part of the course to our investigations of simulated reality in the previous part and consider the related case of “mind uploading." Class 9 Handout.
Part Three: Consciousness and Artificial Intelligence
In this class, we consider one of the important philosophical concepts explicitly at issue in Ex Machina, the Turing Test, discussing the piece by Alan Turing in which the test was originally proposed. Class 10 handout.
In this class, we look at John Searle’s famous “Chinese Room” argument against the claim that an artificial intelligence would be capable of understanding and we consider a response to Searle’s argument, based on a connectionist way of thinking about how AI would be implemented, which is more in line with what is suggested in the film. Class 11 handout.
In this class, we will consider the question of whether something (so-called “phenomenal consciousness”) might be left out even if we were to create a robot that functioned just like a human, looking at discussions of so-called “philosophical zombies.” Class 12 handout.
In this class, we turn to the question of whether genuine romantic relationships with artificial intelligences would be possible, and, if possible, whether it would be ethical. Class 13 handout.
Part Four: Language and Understanding
In this class, we consider the possibility of what W.V.O. Quine calls “radical translation” with respect to genuinely alien language. Class 15 handout.
In this class, we consider the the idea of conceptual relativity as a consequence of the possibility of languages that cannot be translated into one another. Class 16 Handout.
In this class, we turn our attention to the theory of time that would make plausible the sort of temporal experience that is supposedly had by the heptapods, and we consider a consequence of experiencing moments in time all at once explored in the film and story on which it is based—that our future is fated. Class 17 Handout.
How do we know whether our perceptual experiences really are of a real world outside of us? What determines the identity of a person over time? What does it take to be conscious, and how can we tell whether someone or something is? Could radically different languages lead to radically different forms of experience and thought? These are key questions in the philosophical fields of Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, and Philosophy of Language. In this course, we’ll explore these questions (and more) as they arise in works of science fiction and consider the main philosophical proposals for tackling them with an eye to these works. The main works with which we’ll engage will be the films “The Matrix,” “Moon,” “Ex Machina,” and “Arrival,” though there will be many supplementary works of science fiction. Philosophical readings will be drawn from both historical and contemporary sources. pdf of syllabus
Class 1: Introduction
In this class, we consider the role that science fiction can play in philosophy and overview the four main philosophical topics that we'll dive into in the course. Class 1 Handout
Part One: Reality and Skepticism
- First Movie: The Matrix
- Additional Sci-Fi Media
- Philip K. Dick - "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale"
- Rick and Morty - Short Clip, "Roy" (3 mins), with an interesting follow-up in Season 6, Episode 2: “Rick, a Life
Well Lived” (22 mins) - Love, Death, and Robots, Season 1, Episode 7: “Beyond the Aquila Rift" (17 mins, Netflix)
- The Truman Show
In this class, we consider classical skepticism about the existence of the external world, most famously laid out in Descartes’s Meditations. We also consider classic replies to skepticism from Bertrand Russell and G.E. Moore. Class 2 Handout
- Main Readings:
- Rene Descartes – Meditations, excerpt: Meditation 1 (2 is optional)
- Bertrand Russell – Problems of Philosophy, excerpt
- GE Moore – “Proof of an ExternalWorld,” excerpt
- Secondary Readings:
- Christopher Grau – “Bad Dreams, Evil Demons, and the Experience Machine,” pp. 10-15
In this class, we look at the question of why it’d be bad if skeptical worries were true, and, in light of this, consider whether all the skeptical science fiction scenarios are problematic to the same degree. Class 3 Handout.
- Main Readings:
- Robert Nozick – Anarchy, State, and Utopia excerpt (“The Experience Machine”) and The Examined Life excerpt (“Happiness”)
- Secondary Readings:
- Christopher Grau – “Bad Dreams, Evil Demons, and the Experience Machine,” pp. 18-21
In this class, we consider the specific possibility made vivid through The Matrix: that the world we experience could be a virtual reality—and the influential response by David Chalmers that this is not genuinely a skeptical, but only a metaphysical hypothesis. Class 4 Handout.
- Main Reading:
- David Chalmers – “The Matrix as Metaphysics”
- Optional Supplementary Reading:
- David Chalmers – Reality+ Chapter 3, “What Is Reality?” and Chapter 20, “What Do Our Words Mean in Virtual Worlds?”
- Optional Background Reading:
- Hilary Putnam – “Brains in a Vat”
- Interview with Chalmers: David Chalmers – The Philosophy of Virtual Reality (5 minutes):
Class 5: The Real Possibility of a Virtual World
In this class, we consider an argument from Nick Bostrom that something like the Matrix scenario is not only possible but likely actual. Class 5 Handout.
- Main Reading:
- Nick Bostrom – “Are you Living in a Computer Simulation?”
- Interview with Bostrom: Nick Bostrom – "The Simulation Argument (23 minutes):
- Optional NY Times Article: Preston Greene - "Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? Let’s Not Find Out"
Part Two: Identity and Individuality
- Second Movie: Moon
- Additional Sci-Fi Media:
- Existential Comics, “The Machine” (Short comic, 6 minute read)
- Ursula K. Le Guin, “Nine Lives” (short story, 16 pages)
- Star Trek, The Next Generation Season 6, Episode 24: “Second Chances.”
- The Prestige (full length movie)
In this class, we look at the classical account of personal of identity proposed by John Locke, considering specifically how it might be applied to the many “Sam”s in Moon. Class 6 Handout.
- Main Readings:
- John Locke – “Of Identity and Diversity”
- Optional Secondary Reading:
- J.L. Mackie – Problems from Locke Chapter 6, “Personal Identity”
In this class, we consider Derek Parfit’s influential take on personal identity: that it is not really what matters when it comes to the question of survival. Class 7 Handout.
- Main Readings:
- Derek Parfit – “Personal Identity”
- Derek Parfit – Reasons and Persons, excerpt (“The Teletransporter”)
- Optional Supplementary Readings:
- Derek Parfit – Reasons and Persons, Chapters 10-13
- Interview with Parfit: Derek Parfit – interview clips from the Channel 4 documentary “Brainspotting”
- Non Sci-Fi Clip: “I Only Have Half a Brain" – BBCStories
In this class, we discuss the theory of the the self proposed by Daniel Dennett, looking at how it can be applied to make sense of sci-fi scenarios of duplication and teleportation as well as the “remote embodiment” scenario Dennett describes in “Where am I?” Class 8 Handout.
- Main Reading:
- Daniel Dennett – “The Self As a Center of Narrative Gravity”
- Additional Sci-Fi Media:
- Daniel Dennett – “Where am I?” either the short story or the video version
- Interview with Dennett: Daniel Dennett – “What is the Nature of Personal Identity?”
- Non Sci-Fi Clip: Clip on Powers Twins
In this class, we tie our investigations of personal identity in this part of the course to our investigations of simulated reality in the previous part and consider the related case of “mind uploading." Class 9 Handout.
- Main Reading:
- Susan Schneider and Joseph Carabi – “The Metaphysics of Uploading”
- Optional Supplementary Reading:
- Susan Schnedier – Artificial You, Chapters Six and Eight
- Recommended Additional Sci-Fi Media:
- Black Mirror, Season 3, Episode 4: “San Junipero” (1 hour, Netflix)
Part Three: Consciousness and Artificial Intelligence
- Third Movie: Ex Machina
- Additional Sci-Fi Media:
- Isaac Asimov, “Runaround” (short story/chapter, 16 pages)
- Black Mirror, “Be Right Back” (Netflix)
- Her (full length movie), and, relatedly Susan Schneider’s NY Times article, “The Philosophy of Her”
- Ted Chiang, The Lifecycle of Software Objects (novella, 150 pages, but a quick read)
In this class, we consider one of the important philosophical concepts explicitly at issue in Ex Machina, the Turing Test, discussing the piece by Alan Turing in which the test was originally proposed. Class 10 handout.
- Main Reading:
- Alan Turing – “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”
- Optional Secondary Reading:
- Douglass Hofstadter – “The Turing Test: A Coffeehouse Conversation with Daniel Dennett “Reflections”
- Supplementary “Interview” with an AI: Blake Lemoine - “Is LaMDA Sentient? – an Interview”
- Optional Supplementary Reading: On the “Mathematical Objection” Turing considers: J.R. Lucas – “Minds, Machines, and Godel”
In this class, we look at John Searle’s famous “Chinese Room” argument against the claim that an artificial intelligence would be capable of understanding and we consider a response to Searle’s argument, based on a connectionist way of thinking about how AI would be implemented, which is more in line with what is suggested in the film. Class 11 handout.
- Main Readings:
- John Searle – “Minds, Brains, and Programs”
- Paul and Patricia Churchland – “Could a Machine Think?”
- Optional Supplementary Reading:
- Hubert Dreyfus – “Why Computers Must Have Bodies to be Intelligent”
- Interview with Dreyfus
- Optional Deep Dive into Neural Networks: 3Blue1Brown videos on neural networks: video one, video two
In this class, we will consider the question of whether something (so-called “phenomenal consciousness”) might be left out even if we were to create a robot that functioned just like a human, looking at discussions of so-called “philosophical zombies.” Class 12 handout.
- Main Readings:
- Todd C. Moody – “Conversations with Zombies”
- Dennett - Consciousness Explained, excerpt
- Raymond Smullyan - “An Unfortunate Dualist”
- Optional Supplementary Reading:
- Susan Schneider – Artificial You, Chapters Two and Four
In this class, we turn to the question of whether genuine romantic relationships with artificial intelligences would be possible, and, if possible, whether it would be ethical. Class 13 handout.
- Main Reading:
- Sven Nyholm and Lily Eva Frank – “From Sex Robots to Love Robots: Is Mutual Love with a Robot Possible?”
Part Four: Language and Understanding
- Fourth Movie: Arrival
- Additional Sci-Fi Media:
- Ted Chiang – “Story of Your Life” (the short story on which Arrival is based)
- Jorge Luis Borges – “Tl¨on, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” (short story)
- Star Trek, The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 2: “Darmok.”
- George Orwell – 1984, Appendix, “The Principles of Newspeak”
- Main Readings:
- Benjamin Whorf – “Science and Linguistics”
- Guy Deutscher – “Does Language Shape How You Think?”
- Optional Background Reading:
- Edward Sapir – “The Status of Linguistics as a Science”
- Optional Further Supplementary Articles:
- Maria Francisca Reines – “Reviving Whorf”
- Article on the constructed language “Toki Pona”
In this class, we consider the possibility of what W.V.O. Quine calls “radical translation” with respect to genuinely alien language. Class 15 handout.
- Main Readings:
- Hans-Johann Glock – Quine and Davidson on Language, Thought, and Reality, excerpt
- Charles F. Hocket – “How to Learn Martian”
- Optional Background Readings:
- W.V.O. Quine – Word and Object, Chapter 2
- W.V.O. Quine – “Ontological Relativity”
In this class, we consider the the idea of conceptual relativity as a consequence of the possibility of languages that cannot be translated into one another. Class 16 Handout.
- Main Reading:
- Dorit Bar On – “Conceptual Relativism”
- Optional Background Reading:
- Donald Davidson – “On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme”
In this class, we turn our attention to the theory of time that would make plausible the sort of temporal experience that is supposedly had by the heptapods, and we consider a consequence of experiencing moments in time all at once explored in the film and story on which it is based—that our future is fated. Class 17 Handout.
- Main Readings:
- J.J.C. Smart – “The Space-TimeWorld”
- Richard Taylor – Metaphysics, Chapter 6, “Fate”