‘The Mind Is Not A Place But Innumerable Places In Which The Workings Of Mind Observably Occur: Sociology Of Mind Assignment, TCD, Ireland

 Q1.  ‘The mind is not a place but innumerable places in which the workings of mind observably occur’. 

 For this assignment, students should complete a short project based upon consideration of naturally occurring materials in which their chosen mental predicate features as a perspicuous phenomenon.

 Typically, completed assignments may contain the following elements:  

 1. A brief discussion of how the chosen mental predicate would usually feature in terms of the Cartesian picture (or would be treated within the cognitive sciences; laboratory studies programs etc.)

2. A presentation and contextualization of some naturally occurring materials in which the chosen predicate features as part of the real-life action.

3. A discussion/analysis of the presented materials in a way inspired by the Anti-Cartesian tradition (e.g. Ryle, Wittgenstein, Lynch & Bogen, Sharrock, Coulter, etc.).

Alternatively:

 Completed assignments should include:

1. A brief description of the practice of the experiment.

2. An overview of the philosophical/theoretical rationale informing or arising out of the experiment.

3. A sociological critique of the experiment in a way that distinguishes between the practical social and linguistic competencies displayed in the practice of the experiment, and the metaphysically or philosophically motivated accounts which might be given for it in professional psychological circles.