This IS an introductory course, and you aren't expected to know much about philosophy or psychology coming into the course. The schedule of topics below is tentative in that the sequence of topics and perhaps the dates may vary slightly. A principal question is whether Descartes's theory requires denying a Cartesian mind to animals. Evolutionary biologists, psychologists, and philosophers struggled to explain the mind's place in or out of the causal network of biological processes. This opened the door to behaviorism, the Radners claim.
Many animal researchers claim to have taught chimpanzees to speak a language.
Chomsky says they haven't. He ridicules the notion that any species would have a capacity highly advantageous to survival but not use it until a 20th century researcher taught them to. Consider the analogy with flying. Part II of Consciousness Explained. Updated Dec. 19, 1998.