PHIL 181: Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature with Prof. Tamar Gendler

Lecture 4 - Parts of the Soul II [January 20, 2011]

<< previous session | next session >>

Overview:

Professor Gendler begins with a demonstration of sampling bias and a discussion of the problems it raises for empirical psychology. The lecture then returns to divisions of the soul, focusing on examples from contemporary research. The first are dual-processing accounts of cognition, which are introduced along with a discussion of the Wason selection task and belief biases. Next, the influential research of Kahneman and Tversky on heuristics and biases is introduced alongside the famous Asian disease experiment. Finally, Professor Gendler introduces her own notion of alief and offers several examples that distinguish it from belief.

Reading assignment:

Kahneman’s Nobel Prize Lecture: “Maps of Bounded Rationality”

Kahneman, “A Perspective on Judgment and Choice," pp. 697-720

Gendler, “Alief and Belief,” pp. 634-663

Resources:

Reading Guide 4 [PDF]

Credit List [PDF]

Daniel Kahneman's Nobel Prize Lecture: “Maps of Bounded Rationality”