SYLLABUS
(tentative)
PHIL 231a
Graduate Seminar in the Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science:
TOPIC: PERCEPTION AND OBJECTIVITY
Professor Jerry Samet
Brandeis University
CLASS TIME: Wed 10 – 12:50 AM
LOCATION: Rabb 338
OFFICE HOURS: Wed 1:30 – 3:00 & by appt
MY OFFICE: Rabb 305
x62783
[email protected]
COURSE DESCRIPTION. This course will (mainly) focus on Tyler Burge's 2010 work: Origins of
Objectivity.
Just so you have some idea of what it’s about: Burge offers an account of what it takes for minds to
represent ‘objectively’; that is, to have representations—or even misrepresentations—of the objective
world. He criticizes most 20th century philosophers who’ve addressed this question for making the
requirements on objective representation either over-intellectualized (Strawson, Evans, Quine, Davidson)
or too thin to distinguish perception from ‘mere’ sensory registration (Dretske, Millikan, Fodor). Instead,
he proposes an account of objective representation grounded in the phenomenon of perceptual
constancy, and argues that this avoids the problems that beset alternatives (and at the same time
extends the range of ‘objective representers’ to include much of the animal kingdom).
This book is central to many current debates and topics in the philosophy of perception, philosophy of
mind, philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics, and strikes me as distinctive for its
ambition, the breadth and depth of its philosophical analysis, its engagement with a wide range of leading
20th century philosophical figures, and its detailed attention to empirical results in the cognitive sciences.
Because of all this, it is a difficult book to absorb fully. If you have interests in philosophy of mind, mental
representation, cognitive science, philosophy of perception, objectivity, or related topics, you'll want to
think through and develop your views in light of Burge’s positions on these matters. The seminar is
intended as an occasion for you to do that.
So: we will try to understand Burge’s theory on its own terms so that we can evaluate it, and we will try to
put it into context by considering some critical reactions to his work. Depending on how long we spend
on Burge, we may have time to look at other recent work in this area—perhaps Susanna Siegel’s The
Contents of Visual Experience.
Please bring a copy of the reading to each class.
AN OLD PHILOSOPHY JOKE (AND SOME INFORMATION ABOUT ME YOU MIGHT FIND USEFUL).
 Philosopher 1: Have you read Burge’s new book?
 Philosopher 2: Read it? – I haven’t even taught it yet!
I am not Philosopher 2 here (although it will probably sometimes seem that I am); I have read the book.
But I am still trying to understand and evaluate it, and to get clear on its place in the philosophical and
scientific debates about perception. I’ve been interested in philosophy of mind and cognitive science for a
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long time, but had not—until recently—been keeping up much with recent developments in the philosophy
of perception.
PREREQUISITES. There are no prerequisites, but the course is designed for graduate students in
philosophy. Other interested students should speak to me about participating.
REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING
 Weekly response papers, presentations, and participation in class discussions (~50%)
 Final Paper: 4,500-6,000 words [date TBA] (~50%)
WEEKLY RESPONSE PAPERS. Each week, you’re required to write up a one page, single-spaced
response (2-3 pages double-spaced) to that week’s reading that
(a) clearly and very succinctly summarizes one argument or position from the reading; and
(b) makes a point—raises an objection, an interpretive issue, etc—with respect to that argument or
position
(c) has a title that reflects your point.
I may now and then pose a question in advance for you to respond to.
Note about (a): I am not looking for a summary of the entire reading, just a brief one-paragraph summary
of a single argument or position from the reading.
Note about (b): this is where you show me that you’ve put some thought into the reading by working up
and reporting some of your own ideas. It may help to just start writing to see where your thoughts take
you. But your response should be re-written so that it’s organized and not stream-of-thought.
Note about (c): you may start out with one title and discover that your point is not quite what you thought it
would be – retitle it!
Please post your response on LATTE each week on TUESDAY BEFORE NOON. I expect that many of
you are used to doing the reading the night before class; I understand that this is a good way to have the
material fresh in your mind. But these assignments are intended to give me and the presenter an idea of
what the class made of the readings—which issues were easily grasped and which were more difficult,
interesting connections to be considered, topics requiring a bit of background, etc. So we can’t wait till
the last minute to get them.
I’ve prepared a short ‘advisory’ on these response papers (with help from Dan Dennett) that I will put up
on LATTE.
NB: Late response papers will not be accepted, though you can skip up to TWO without
affecting your grade.
NB: We may start seminar meetings with one or two students being asked to read their
response papers – so bring a copy with you (we’ll see how things go).
CLASS PRESENTATIONS. All attendees will be required to lead a seminar discussion (or maybe more
than one, depending on our numbers). Typically, the presenter will present what s/he takes to be the high
points of the reading, discuss the reading critically, and leads a discussion on it. This should not be a
summary or book report; the presenter assumes that other students have done the reading (and the other
students make it the case that this assumption is correct!). A large part of the challenge will be for you to
figure out what’s most important in the readings. The presenter will also have access to the posted
comments from the rest of the class. If time permits, we may set aside some classes at the end of the
semester for students to present their ideas—or drafts, if they’ve gotten that far—for the final paper they
are working on for the course.
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You may discuss your presentation with me before the session in which you present, just to make sure
we're on the same page (email may be OK), and the presentations should not be read aloud from a prewritten paper—you can use notes or PowerPoint slides, but no reading.
ATTENDANCE. Attendance is required. You may miss two classes without penalty.
PARTICIPATION. You are expected to participate. I’m looking forward to broad-ranging, open-ended
discussions of the issues and of whatever related lines of thought are of most interest to the participants.
Participation begins with the weekly assignments and a careful reading of the material. It is very hard to
discuss material that no one has read or given much thought to.
A word about participation. In the classroom, participation is not about quantity. The best philosopher is
not the one who speaks most. But it isn’t exactly about quality either. Our discussions would be terrible if
we each only spoke up when we were sure that we had something profound to offer. Rather, the key to
participation, and to good discussions, is (aside from preparation) honesty and trust. If you honestly don’t
understand something, you should be brave and say so. And trust each other—and me—to work with
what you say, and not to be dismissive or punitive. We’ll be working on difficult materials. Burge is not
always clear – to me, anyway - but he repeats himself quite a bit, so the hope is that one of his iterations
will stick. We’ll be trying to figure out what he and his critics are saying and why they’re saying it. Be
honest in stating what you do understand (or think you understand) and what you don’t understand, and
together we’ll try to figure it all out.
PAPERS. You should meet with me by to discuss your topic before you get deeply into the writing. If
you’d like an extension, you should request it in advance of the due date. I’m happy to be flexible for
good reasons, but you must ask ahead of time.
LAPTOP & CELLPHONE POLICY: Please do not use laptops or cellphones in class.
SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS. Students who require special accommodations because of a disability
should contact me as soon as possible with the relevant documentation. To preserve confidentiality, you
may contact me in private or by email.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY. All forms of academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, will be taken extremely
seriously. Students are expected to be familiar with Brandeis policy regarding academic integrity, which
can be found online.
LEARNING GOALS. Students completing the course will
 learn about central issues in the philosophy of perception, and about competing ways of thinking
about those issues
 learn about research in perceptual psychology – especially, about vision – and see how concepts
from linguistics, biology, and other areas can inform theorizing about perception
 get to think about how empirical discoveries in psychology bear on philosophical questions and
vice versa
 study basic issues in 20th century philosophy of language and mind, and consider how they
inform questions about what is distinctive about perception and about what—if anything—
perception tells us about the world
 get experience in presenting materials to a class and leading a discussion
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