[course under development]

Dr. Jerome Regier

On Imagination

Brann, E.T.H., 1991. "Introduction." In: The World of the Imagination. Sum and Substance. pp. 18-26. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD. 810 pgs. [What does imagination mean?]

Mazur, B., 2003. "Permission and Laws." In: Imagining Numbers (particularly the square root of minus fifteen). Chap. 4, pp. 65-76. Picador, New York. 270 pgs. [What does it mean to imagine numbers?]

Penrose, R., 1994. Shadows of the Mind. A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness. pp. 249-259. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 457 pgs. [complex numbers & quantum theory]

Philosophy of Science

Popper K., 1998. "Science: Conjectures and Refutations." In: (Curd, M. and Cover, J.A., eds.) Philosophy of Science. pp. 3-9. W.W. Norton, New York. 1379 pgs. [scientific method.1]

Lakatos, I., 1998. "Science and Pseudoscience." In: (Curd, M. and Cover, J.A., eds.) Philosophy of Science. pp. 20-26. W.W. Norton, New York. 1379 pgs. [scientific method.2, pseudoscience.1]

Ruse, M. 1998. "Creation-Science is not Science." In: (Curd, M. and Cover, J.A., eds.) Philosophy of Science. pp. 38-45.W.W. Norton, New York. 1379 pgs. [pseudoscience.2]

Salmon, W.C., 1998. "Rationality and Objectivity in Science or Tom Kuhn Meets Tom Bayes." In: (Curd, M. and Cover, J.A., eds.) Philosophy of Science. pp. 551-558, 579. W.W. Norton, New York. 1379 pgs. [probabilistic thinking in science]

Wittgenstein, L., 1969. In: (Anscombe, G.E.M. and von Wright, G.H., eds.) On Certainty. pp. xx-xx. Harper Torchbook, New York. [the perils of certainty] [readings yet to be selected]

Searle, J., 1998. "Basic Metaphysics: Reality and Truth." In: Mind, Language and Society. pp. 1-37. Basic Books, New York. 173 pgs. [a primer in metaphysics]

Dewey, J., 1998. "The Problem of Truth" (1911). In: (Hickman, L.A. and Alexander, T.M., eds.) The Essential Dewey, vol. 2. pp. 101-129. Indiana University Press, Bloomington. [Pragmatism]

Reality's Arena

Greene, B., 2004. The Fabric of the Cosmos. Chap. 1-4, pp. 3-76. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 569 pgs.

• Chap. 1: "Roads to Reality. Space, time, and why things are as they are."

• Chap. 2: "The Universe and the bucket. Is space a human abstraction or a physical entity?"

• Chap. 3: "Relativity and the absolute. Is spacetime an Einsteinian abstraction or a physical entity?"

• Chap. 4: "Entangling space. What does it mean to be separate in a quantum universe?"

Gott III, J.R., 2001. Time Travel in Einstein's Universe. The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time. pp. xx-xx. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. 291 pgs. [relativity] [book under consideration]

Time and Experience

Greene, B., 2004. The Fabric of the Cosmos. Chap. 5-7, pp. 127-216. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 569 pgs.

• Chap. 5: "The frozen river. Does time flow?"

• Chap. 6: "Chance and the arrow. Does time have a direction?"

• Chap. 7: "Time and the quantum. Insights into time's nature from the quantum realm."

Chaisson, E.J., 2001. Cosmic Evolution. The Rise of Complexity in Nature. pp. 16-78. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. 274 pgs. [introduction to thermodynamics, time's arrow]

Cosmology

Greene, B., 2004. The Fabric of the Cosmos. Chap. 10 & 11, pp. 272-323. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 569 pgs.

• Chap. 10: "Deconstructing the Bang. What banged?"

• Chap. 11: "Quanta in the sky with diamonds. Inflation, quantum jitters, and the arrow of time."

Origin of Life

Chaisson, E.J., 2001. Cosmic Evolution. The Rise of Complexity in Nature. pp. 121-147. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. 274 pgs. [non-equilibrium thermodynamics and complexity]

Pigliucci, M., 2002. "Where do we come from? We still have few clues to the origin of life." In: Denying Evolution. Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science. pp. 202-215. Sinauer Assoc., Sunderland, MA. 338 pgs. [origins of life.1]

Dawkins, R., 2004. "Canterbury." In: The Ancestor's Tale, pp. 559-581. Houghton Mifflin C., Boston. 671 pgs. [origins of life.2]

Diversification of Life

Dawkins, R. 2004. "The Salamander's Tale." In: The Ancestor's Tale. A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution. pp. 299-310. Houghton Mifflin, Boston. 673 pgs. [species boundaries]

Dawkins, R. 2004. "Eubacteria." In: The Ancestor's Tale. A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution. pp. 543-553. Houghton Mifflin, Boston. 673 pgs. [evolution of the wheel]

Dawkins, R., 1996. "The Forty-Fold Path to Enlightenment." In: Climbing Mount Improbable. pp. 138-197. W.W. Norton & Co., New York. 340 pgs. [eye evolution.1]

Nilsson, D-E., 2004. Eye evolution: A Question of Genetic Promiscuity. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 14: 407-414. [eye evolution.2]

Evolution of Individuality

Buss, L.W., 1987. The Evolution of Individuality. pp. 3-68. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 204 pgs. [cell lineages as individuals]

Gould, S.J., 2002. "Species as individuals in the hierarchical theory of selection (part)" In: The Structure of Evolutionary Theory. Chap. 8 (part), pp. 595-613. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. 1433 pgs. [species as individuals]

Natural History

Gould, S.J., 2002. "Darwin as a historical methodologist." In: The Structure of Evolutionary Theory. Chap. 2 (part), pp. 99-116. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. 1433 pgs. [methods of natural history.1]

Diamond, J., 1999. "Zebras, unhappy marriage, and the Anna Karenina principle." In: Guns, Germs, and Steel. Chap. 9, pp. 157-175. W.W. Norton & Co., New York. 480 pgs. [animal domestication]

Diamond, J., 1999. "Lethal gift of livestock. The evolution of germs." In: Guns, Germs, and Steel. Chap. 11, pp. 195-214. W.W. Norton & Co., New York. 480 pgs. [human disease]

Diamond, J., 1999. "The future of human history as a science." In: Guns, Germs, and Steel. pp. 195-214. W.W. Norton & Co., New York. 480 pgs. [methods of natural history.2]

Diamond, J. 2005. "A tale of two farms." In: Collapse. pp. 1-23. Viking, New York. 575 pgs. [methods of natural history.3]

Diamond, J. 2005. "Mining Australia." In: Collapse. Chap. 13, pp. 378-416. Viking, New York. 575 pgs. [modern Australia]

The Human Experience -- Self

Nagel, T., 1979. "What is it like to be a bat." In: Mortal Questions. Chap. 12, pp. 165-178. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 215 pgs. [introduction to consciousness.1]

Searle, J., 2004. "Consciousness and the mind-body problem." In: Mind. A Brief Introduction. Chap. 4, pp. 107-132. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 326 pgs. [introduction to consciousness.2]

Churchland, P.S., 2002. "Dualism and the arguments against neuroscientific progress." In: Brain-Wise. Studies in Neurophilosophy. pp. 171-198. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 471 pgs. [problems with dualism]

Dennett, D.C., 2004. "Can machines think?" In: (Teuscher, C., ed.) Alan Turing: Life and Legacy of a Great Thinker. pp. 295-316. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. 542 pgs. [artificial intelligence]

Churchland, P.S., 2002. "Free Will." In: Brain-Wise. Studies in Neurophilosophy. Chap. 5, pp. 201-237. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 471 pgs. [free will.1]

Searle, J., 2004. "Free Will." In: Mind. A Brief Introduction. Chap. 8, pp. 215-235. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 326 pgs. [free will.2]

Searle, J., 2004. "Mental causation." In: Mind. A Brief Introduction. Chap. 7, pp. 193-214. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 326 pgs. [causation]

Searle, J., 2004. "The Self." In: Mind. A Brief Introduction. Chap. 11, pp. 279-299. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 326 pgs. [What is the self?]

Metzinger, T., 2003. Being No One: The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity. pp. xx-xx. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 670 pgs. [the phenomenal self-model theory of subjectivity (PSM), the phenomenal model of the intentionality relation (PMIR)] [readings yet to be selected]

The Human Experience -- Society

Dennett, D.C., 2003. "The evolution of moral agency." In: Freedom Evolves. Chap. 7, pp. 193-202. Viking, New York. 347 pgs. [game theory & moral agency]

Searle, J., 1983. "The nature of intentional states (part)," In: Intentionality. Chap. 1 (part), pp. 1-4. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 278 pgs. [definition of intentionality]

Searle, J., 1998. "The structure of the social universe: How the mind creates an objective social reality." In: Mind, Language, and Society. Chap. 5, pp. 111-134. Basic Books, New York. 173 pgs. [How is a social reality created?]

Kaufman, G.D., 2000. Ecological consciousness and the symbol "God." Buddist-Christian Studies. 20: 3-22. [God concept & the natural world]