Class 20 - Siri Hustvedt - Minds and Bodies
Checking in
We’ll take five minutes as usual to check in!
Today’s Class
In the reading for today’s class, Hustvedt talks about doubt, and about the puzzle of consciousness, surveying several thinkers — René Descartes, Margaret Cavendish, Thomas Hobbes and Giambattista Vico — who have differing perspectives on the nature of consciousness.
The text explores the following questions:
- What is the relationship between the mind and the body?
- How have thinkers from the 17th century onwards thought about this relationship?
- Do our theories of mind neglect biology? And does this matter?
- Are our theories of knowledge gendered, and if so, how?
Descartes Video
We’ll start by watching a short video about Descartes, which sets out some of the major philosophical issues that we’ll be dealing with today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAjWUrwvxs4
Breakout groups I
In your breakout groups, I want you now to look at these four thinkers, and try to summarise their ideas. I’ll put you in four breakout groups, and your task is to read the text in detail for ½ hour, and to feed back to the main group, presenting the ideas of your allocated thinker. You can also do extra research online.
- René Descartes
- Margaret Cavendish
- Thomas Hobbes
- Giambattista Vico
Final Assignment Briefing
Now, we’ll move onto our final assignment briefing. For your final assignment, you will write between 1000 and 1200 words. This word count does not include your list of references, but you are expected to include a full, properly formatted reference list at the end of your assignment.
You can choose ONE of the following four questions.
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In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer writes, “I envision a time when the intellectual monoculture of science will be replaced with a polyculture of complementary knowledges.” Explore the idea of a “polyculture of complementary knowledges”, and evaluate whether such a polyculture is desirable.
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Write a short dialogue of around 600-700 words between the mind and the body, debating their respective roles in human knowledge. Now write a critical essay, in academic style, exploring the arguments of the body and mind, making reference to Siri Hustvedt’s The Delusions of Certainty, and to any other relevant research. Your total word-count for dialogue and commentary should be 1000-1200 words.
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What, if anything, makes science distinctive as a way of knowing the world? Discuss this, with reference to contemporary literature on the philosophy of science.
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What are the traditional ways of knowing in your community / context that you think can contribute to human well-being or to our shared future? How can they contribute? Put your argument in the context of contemporary debates.
This final essay is very short, and the deadline is 27 May. As this is end of semester, this is non-negotiable. We need all final grades submitted by early June, and if you do not submit on time, there will not be any guarantees that I can give you a grade in time. You will have class time to write the essay.
If you need any clarification about the assignment, just get in touch! You will be marked on a combination of the following:
• Originality of argument and ideas • Clarity of writing and thinking • Demonstration of understanding of the original texts • Research skills and ability to engage with secondary literature.
Homework
Get started on your essay!