Cognitive Science PHIL 3440

Midterm Study Questions

A note on format: The 60 minute test will include short and long answer questions, some will require you to command facts, others will require that you have considered philosophical views. You are responsible for all readings and lectures. The following questions are to assist you in studying.

1. What is materialism about the mind?

2. What is folk psychology?

3. What is machine functionalism?

4. Why have some have thought the mind can be understood on the model of a computer?

5. What is a Turing machine?

5. What is the language of thought hypothesis?

6. What is the intentional stance?

7. How do the language of thought hypothesis and the intentional stance represent different approaches to the study of the mind?

8. Consider how Churchland's eliminativism represents an alternative to both Dennett's intentional stance and Fodor's language of thought hypothesis.

9. Compare and contrast connectionist and classical views of the mind.

10. Distinguish syntax and semantics, and understand why it is relevant for the study of the mind.

11. What, according to Fodor, is a module?

12. Understand what informational encapsulation is, what it means for a module to be mandatory, and what domain specificity means.