| [A] | — | The Aleph |
| [CF] | — | Collected Fictions |
| [D] | — | Dreamtigers |
| [L] | — | Labyrinths |
| [SNF] | — | Selected Non-Fictions |
| week | topic | Borges | from the book | articles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | intro | The Aleph [A] | — | Through the Den of the Metaphysician (English version of Dans l'antre du métaphysicien by Warren S. McCulloch, Thales 7:37-49, 1951; reprinted in The Embodiments of Mind, MIT Press, 1965) |
| 2 | attention | The Zahir [L] | Section 9.1 |
*Computational
modeling of visual attention, L. Itti and
C. Koch, Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2:194-203 (2001); *The brain circuitry of attention, S. Shipp, Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8:223-230 (2004). |
| 3 | the phenomenal self |
The Nothingness of Personality [SNF]; Personality and the Buddha [SNF] |
Sections 9.2, 9.3.1 |
*Philosophical
conceptions of the self: implications for cognitive science,
S. Gallagher, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4:1:14-21 (2000); *The subjectivity of subjective experience: A representationalist analysis of the first-person perspective, T. Metzinger, Networks, (3-4):33-64 (2004). |
| 4 | the phenomenal self in the brain | The Approach to al-Mu'tasim [A] | Section 9.3.2 | *Consciousness without a cerebral cortex: a challenge for neuroscience and medicine, B. Merker, Behavioral and Brain Sciences (2007, in press). |
| 5 | access consciousness |
*Blindness [SNF]; The Maker [A; D] |
Sections 9.4, 9.7.2 |
*Why visual attention and
awareness are different, V. A. F. Lamme, Trends in Cognitive
Sciences 7:12-18 (2003); *Single-neuron correlates of subjective vision in the human medial temporal lobe, G. Kreiman, I. Fried and C. Koch, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 99:8378-8383 (2002). |
| 6 | narrative selves | Borges and I [L] | Sections 9.5, 9.6 | *Cortex, countercurrent context, and dimensional integration of lifetime memory, B. Merker, Cortex 40:559-576 (2004). |
| 7 | dreaming |
Dreamtigers [D];
The Circular Ruins [A] |
Section 9.7.3 | *The prefrontal cortex in sleep, A. Muzur, E. F. Pace-Schott and J. A. Hobson, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6:475-481 (2002). |
| 8 | solitude | The Garden of Forking Paths [L] | Section 9.7.1 | *Solitude: an exploration of benefits of being alone, C. R. Long and J. R. Averill, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 33:21-44 (2003). |
| 9 | free will | August 23, 1983 [CF] | Section 10.1 | *The mind's best trick: how we experience conscious will, D. M. Wegner, Trends in Cognitive Sciences 7:2:65-69 (2003). |
| 10 | ethics | The Three Versions of Judas [L] | Section 10.2 |
Toward Some Circuitry of Ethical Robots or an Observational
Science of the Genesis of Social Evolution in the Mind-Like Behavior of Artifacts,
W. S. McCulloch, Acta Biotheoretica, 11:147-156 (1956; reprinted in
The Embodiments of Mind, 1965); *How (and where) does moral judgment work?, J. Greene and J. Haidt, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6:12:517-523 (2002). |
| 11 | wisdom and happiness |
The Dialogues of Ascetic and King [SNF];
Happiness |
Section 10.3 |
*Wisdom as expert knowledge
system: a critical review of a contemporary operationalization of an
ancient concept, M. Ardelt, Human Development 47:257-285 (2004);
*Pursuing happiness: the architecture of sustainable change, S. Lyubomirsky, K. M. Sheldon, and D. Schkade, Review of General Psychology 9:111-131 (2005). |
| 12 | time |
The Secret Miracle [L];
A New Refutation of Time [SNF] |
Section 10.3.3 |
*Can animals recall the
past and plan for the future?, N. S. Clayton, T. J. Bussey,
and A. Dickinson, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 4:685-691 (2003); *The cognitive neuroscience of constructive memory: remembering the past and imagining the future, D. L. Schacter and D. R. Addis, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 362:773-786 (2007). |
| 13 | reality | Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius [L] | — | Are You Living In a Computer Simulation?, N. Bostrom, Philosophical Quarterly 53:243-255 (2003). |
| 14 | beyond | The Approach to al-Mu'tasim [A] | Sections 9.8, 10.4 |