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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Philosophy and the Sciences: Introduction to the Philosophy of Cognitive Sciences by The University of Edinburgh

4.6
stars
1,359 ratings

About the Course

Course Description What is our role in the universe as human agents capable of knowledge? What makes us intelligent cognitive agents seemingly endowed with consciousness? This is the second part of the course 'Philosophy and the Sciences', dedicated to Philosophy of the Cognitive Sciences. Scientific research across the cognitive sciences has raised pressing questions for philosophers. The goal of this course is to introduce you to some of the main areas and topics at the key juncture between philosophy and the cognitive sciences. Each week we will introduce you to some of these important questions at the forefront of scientific research. We will explain the science behind each topic in a simple, non-technical way, while also addressing the philosophical and conceptual questions arising from it. Areas you’ll learn about will include: Philosophy of psychology, among whose issues we will cover the evolution of the human mind and the nature of consciousness. Philosophy of neurosciences, where we’ll consider the nature of human cognition and the relation between mind, machines, and the environment. Learning objectives Gain a fairly well-rounded view on selected areas and topics at the intersection of philosophy and the sciences Understand some key questions, and conceptual problems arising in the cognitive sciences. Develop critical skills to evaluate and assess these problems. Suggested Readings To accompany 'Philosophy and the Sciences', we are pleased to announce a tie-in book from Routledge entitled 'Philosophy and the Sciences for Everyone'. This course companion to the 'Philosophy and the Sciences' course was written by the Edinburgh Philosophy and the Sciences team expressly with the needs of MOOC students in mind. 'Philosophy and the Sciences for Everyone' contains clear and user-friendly chapters, chapter summaries, glossary, study questions, suggestions for further reading and guides to online resources. Please note, this companion book is optional - all the resources needed to complete the course are available freely and listed on the course site....

Top reviews

CG

Feb 10, 2020

this course was very broad and incredibly interesting. I highly recommend it as introduction to the philosophy of science, but I have to warn you: Once you have started, your journey won't stop here!

AS

Jun 24, 2020

this is the great course for the people who are pursuing their carer in philosophy, philosophy of mind to be more precise and also for the people who are thinking of doing psychology later anytime.

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226 - 250 of 311 Reviews for Philosophy and the Sciences: Introduction to the Philosophy of Cognitive Sciences

By Madison B

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Jul 19, 2020

Great!

By Oky T S

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Nov 20, 2016

Superb

By Kevin R

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Nov 18, 2021

Nice

By Davina M

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Oct 11, 2017

E

By Bruno G

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Jul 4, 2022

This course felt like it was too short, I loved it! The stuff on niche construction and embodied cognition I found particularly fascinating, and it felt like it gave the course a satissatisfying begining and end focuing on how an organisms body, actions and environment are amalgmated into a single system for cognitive scientisits to pick a part and study. It really helped to hammer home that we are not just brains in a body, but that the brain, body in motion and environment stage all communicate with each other to bring about thought at all levels of analysis. Simply removing one of these elements would leave us mindless. This is so satissatisfying as I just recently finished my undergrate degree in forensic psychology a year ago and was left wondering why psychologists focus so much on the brain while the body and nervous system holds so much secerts to how we all behave, think and feel. This course help to broaden my curiousity on this idea, and let me see how important the environment is in every interainteraction in addition to the brain, body and action.

By Victor J M C

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Dec 9, 2017

This was a good course, and I have learned new things by taking the course, but it would have benefitted from more depth. It is, however, a course for which it must be stressed that the title contains "introduction". By taking the course, one gets an overview of different areas of Cognitive Science and how different researchers might do research in those areas. This is all very good, but I had expected more depth. The course requires one to understand what the researchers are saying - nothing more than that; one does not learn to think in a new way or to analyse cases. Overall, it is an interesting course, but it is more like a documentary with quizzes to test, if one has paid attention, than it is like a course, in which one needs to really understand the content.

By Petr M

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May 8, 2023

Nice introduction to cognitive science. Maybe more into general cognitive science than only into topics connected to AI / Inteligente machines. However, the course can be completed in a few hours and it provided me with some interesting ideas. Cons: Some of the additional resources are not working. Some topics are covered only briefly.

By Alain Q R

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Dec 10, 2018

Very good course. Its topics are really well chosen. So the readings recommended. Its lecturers are well chosen too divided between more theoretical and more practical thinkers when the topic makes this distinction make sense or between a follower of some theory and a follower of an opposite (in some way) theory.

By Shaghayegh P

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Aug 20, 2021

Hi This is a great course to know about Cognitive Science, It has very intresting topics that make you more cirious about this filed. But you should know after finish this course, you are just a biginner that like to learn more about this filed. I like it and I lerant a lot of it.

By Vijaya D

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Jun 6, 2020

I learned a lot from this introductory course on Philosophy of Cognitive science.

Professors were very engaging and gave lots of example to make the understand the concepts better.

The course has made me so motivated and I am looking forward to learn more on Cognitive science.

By Lucy B

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Aug 29, 2020

It was filled with information, almost too much to absorb and would have been much easier to understand with less technical, complicated terminology and overwhelming examples and references. Maybe simpler and more direct? The first part was fine and enjoyable and satisfying.

By Daniel F

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Apr 17, 2017

Extremely interesting topics; it is a quick and broad survey, so very superficial, though. Just a series of 10-15 minutes presentations introducing each aspect of the field. Don't be discouraged if you find the first week's presentation lacking/unengaging: it gets better.

By Emiel d J

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Aug 24, 2018

A very interesting course. Some of the lecturers where a bit monotone. And the information is quite hard to digest if you have little to no knowledge about cosmology. However besides that the course is amazing. It is a great introduction to the philosophy of science.

By Ben M

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Nov 7, 2021

Both expansive and provoking course. The magnitude of the implications found in the evolutionary psychology component, reconfirmed in the bayesian statistic concepts re a mammalian brain augmented by predictive models.. staggering! Compelling and rousing.

By Jim K

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Dec 19, 2016

I like the subject and the topics of each week are also interesting. However, the 4 weeks' content can only cover limited topics. And the course in Coursera can be improved by making the parts in each week clearer and reducing some subtitle mistakes.

By Netaniel R

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Jun 12, 2022

It was a very interesting course, but it left me with a sensation of half understanding. The concepts were very clear, but for example I would appreciate a review of attempts made to defien conciousseness in neuroscience and philosophy in the past.

By Tan K Q

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May 6, 2017

I am reading up on cognitive sciences for my PhD dissertation on cognitive narratology and space. The contents of this course are mostly very clearly presented. The topic is engaging, and I like the examples cited in the presentations.

By Belinda A

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May 15, 2021

I would love the course to be slightly more comprehensive and if some of the discussions are mandatory, it would have been more robust. But all in all, I have learned a fair bit! The videos were also taken with good effort. Thank you!

By Allison B

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Sep 3, 2017

I think they should give us harder/more in-depth readings than just internet encyclopedia articles. It would be nice if they directed us to seminal papers that developed some of the ideas presented here instead of just summaries.

By tuba y

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Jan 19, 2018

Great as an introduction, but requires a lot of more in-depth individual research on the part of the novice learner, which could be facilitated by providing seminal readings - to let beginners know from where to start. Thank you

By NAUNIHAL S

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Sep 3, 2020

The course was very informative with excellent reading material suggested. I think that the week four videos could have been more explaining at the conceptual basis, too many examples made it for me rather difficult to keep up.

By Steven v d G

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Nov 22, 2016

A good and informative course on the philosophy of cognitive sciences. Judging by the lectures and quizzes, the course does seem to be more on a high school level, than an undergraduate level.

By Katt P

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Mar 10, 2017

Great high-level overview that introduces some very interesting concepts. Great intro for those who are just exploring this area of study. Entices you to dive deeper into the topic!

By Stefan V

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Feb 8, 2017

Wonderful course! It's a great introduction to the topic of embodied cognition. My only suggestion is to expand it for the people who are really interested in these topics.

By Eduardo S P

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Mar 11, 2017

I enjoyed this course, however some of the lectures were a bit slow or somehow loose. Evenso, I think this is a very good introductory course to a fascinating topic.