printer friendly pageCS 186: How to Make a Moral Agent (PHIL 86)
Is it bad if you lie to ChatGPT? Who is to blame if ChatGPT lies? Should we let superhuman AI make life and death decisions? These questions ask whether advanced AI systems (today, often large language models - LLMs) can be moral agents - whether they are the kind of thing that can know how to make (ethically) correct decisions, and be held responsible for the rights or wrongs they do. Asking these questions leads us to questions about ourselves: What about us makes us moral agents? Is it our reason? Or is it essential that we emotionally feel each others' pain? Is selfishness irrational, or just unpleasant? Understanding ourselves can help us think about what kinds of artificial minds we would like to make, and, if we can, how. In this class, we provide the philosophical rigor and technical background necessary to robustly interrogate these and related questions. Readings will be drawn from philosophy, deep learning, and the cognitive sciences. The major assessment in this class will be a term project. There will be reading assignments for every class, and a mix of lectures, discussions, and participatory in-class activities. Recommended prerequisites:
PHIL 80 or multiple philosophy courses;
CS 183.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Gottlieb, D. (PI)
;
Moore, J. (PI)
PHIL 80: Mind, Matter, and Meaning
In this course we¿ll look at some central topics in metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. Emphasis throughout will be placed on the development of analytical writing skills. Here are some of the questions that we might look at. Is consciousness explicable in wholly physical terms? What kinds of things are conscious (computers?, LLMs?, fundamental particles?)? What are you (a material object?, an immaterial soul?), and what kinds of changes can you undergo without ceasing to exist? Is the existence of free will compatible with the results of our best scientific theories (which purport to show that our world is governed by deterministic laws of nature)? What is the basis of our knowledge of the external world, the future, and unobserved parts of the universe? Our focus throughout will be on contemporary work. Prerequisite: at least one other philosophy course, not including
SYMSYS 1 /
PHIL 99.
Terms: Aut, Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
PHIL 86: How to Make a Moral Agent (CS 186)
Is it bad if you lie to ChatGPT? Who is to blame if ChatGPT lies? Should we let superhuman AI make life and death decisions? These questions ask whether advanced AI systems (today, often large language models - LLMs) can be moral agents - whether they are the kind of thing that can know how to make (ethically) correct decisions, and be held responsible for the rights or wrongs they do. Asking these questions leads us to questions about ourselves: What about us makes us moral agents? Is it our reason? Or is it essential that we emotionally feel each others' pain? Is selfishness irrational, or just unpleasant? Understanding ourselves can help us think about what kinds of artificial minds we would like to make, and, if we can, how. In this class, we provide the philosophical rigor and technical background necessary to robustly interrogate these and related questions. Readings will be drawn from philosophy, deep learning, and the cognitive sciences. The major assessment in this class will be a term project. There will be reading assignments for every class, and a mix of lectures, discussions, and participatory in-class activities. Recommended prerequisites:
PHIL 80 or multiple philosophy courses;
CS 183.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Gottlieb, D. (PI)
;
Moore, J. (PI)
PHIL 107B: Plato's Later Metaphysics and Epistemology (PHIL 207B)
A close reading of Plato's Theatetus and Parmenides, his two mature dialogues on the topics of knowledge and reality. We will consider various definitions of knowledge, metaphysical problems about the objects of knowledge, and a proposed method for examining and resolving such problems. Some background in ancient Greek philosophy and/or contemporary metaphysics and epistemology is preferred, but not required. Prerequisite:
Phil 80.
Last offered: Spring 2024
PHIL 132: Phenomenology: Merleau-Ponty (PHIL 232)
(Graduate students register for 232.) French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty wrote that we are neither angels nor machines but living beings. In contrast to both a first-person introspective analysis and the third-person scientific approach, Merleau-Ponty aimed to describe the basic invariant structures of human life by using the phenomenological method. The result was a new concept of experience that is essentially embodied. In this class, you will learn about the phenomenological method and read Merleau-Ponty's now classic text Phenomenology of Perception. PREREQS: 2 courses in philosophy prior to enrollment (recommended
PHIL 80) OR
PHIL 131/231, my intro to phenomenology course. This course is not repeatable.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
Instructors:
Jackson, G. (PI)
;
Hazel, A. (TA)
PHIL 160: What are Laws of Nature? (PHIL 260)
Scientists, and philosophers, regularly speak of the laws of nature: Newton's laws of motion or Avogadro's law. But what is a law of nature? Is it just a generalization that allows for exceptions? Is it just a summary statement of a pattern in events we have observed so far? Is talk of laws an indirect way of talking about the powers that objects and properties have? Or are laws somehow separate entities that make objects behave the way they do? Do they show us how things have to be, not just how they happen to be? Given what laws are supposed to be, are there really any laws of nature? Prerequisites:
PHIL 80,
PHIL 150 (or equivalent, and
PHIL 180 (or equivalent).
Last offered: Winter 2022
PHIL 164: Scientific Realism, Perspectivism, and Antirealism (PHIL 264)
Graduate students register for 264. Scientific realism is the view that we should think that the sciences basically get it right about the fundamental structure of reality: there really are electrons out there as part of objective reality. Various forms of antirealism question various dimensions of the realist position. Some of those who question strong forms of realism are uncomfortable with the label antirealism for their own positions. We will attempt to make sense of the various positions, arguments, and methodological and substantive issues supposedly at stake in these debates. Instructor Permission Required. Prerequisites:
PHIL 60,
PHIL 80,
PHIL 150, and one course in contemporary theoretical philosophy (
PHIL 180 to
PHIL 189); or equivalent courses.
Last offered: Spring 2024
PHIL 167D: Philosophy of Neuroscience (PHIL 267D, SYMSYS 167D)
How can we explain the mind? With approaches ranging from computational models to cellular-level characterizations of neural responses to the characterization of behavior, neuroscience aims to explain how we see, think, decide, and even feel. While these approaches have been highly successful in answering some kinds of questions, they have resulted in surprisingly little progress in others. We'll look at the relationships between the neuroscientific enterprise, philosophical investigations of the nature of the mind, and our everyday experiences as creatures with minds. Prerequisite:
PHIL 80. (Not open to freshmen.) By application. This course is not offered in 24-25.
Last offered: Winter 2024
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
PHIL 173B: Undergraduate Introduction to Metaethics
This is an intensive, undergraduate-only introduction to, and survey of, contemporary metaethics. Can moral and ethical values be justified or is it just a matter of opinion? Is there a difference between facts and values? Are there any moral truths? Does it matter if there are not? Focus is not on which things or actions are valuable or morally right, but what is value or rightness itself. Prerequisites: 80, 181 and one ethics course. Please contact instructor for permission number.
Last offered: Spring 2022
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
PHIL 175: Philosophy of Law (ETHICSOC 175B, PHIL 275)
This course will explore foundational issues about the nature of law and its relation to morality, and about legal responsibility and criminal punishment. Toward the end we will turn to issues about the criminal culpability of children. Prerequisite: Philosophy 80
Last offered: Winter 2024
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
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