Scholarships
Introduction
Explore the most pertinent scientific and philosophical concepts for understanding our own minds with this free online course.
Why join the course?
This free online course will bring together learners and practitioners interested in how the mind works. It aims to build bridges between traditionally antagonistic approaches to understanding the mind.
What is a mind?
This question has perplexed philosophers, scientists, historians and ordinary people across time and cultures.
While advances in the medical understanding of how the brain functions can shed light on neurological functions and disorders, the essential question of "what the mind is" speaks to a different problem.
This problem cannot be answered by a purely scientific understanding of the brain, nor by a purely philosophical or psychological approach. Many disciplines have attempted to address the question, resulting in multiple and sometimes antithetical answers.
New understandings of the mind
In this course, Professor Mark Solms, Chair of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town, will adopt a multidisciplinary approach.
He will bring in perspectives from a range of disciplines, to explore four specific aspects of the mind- subjectivity, intentionality, consciousness and agency. Together, these will help us think about the fundamental questions: what it is to be a mind, why we have a mind and what it feels like to have a mind.
When would you like to start?
Most FutureLearn courses run multiple times. Every run of a course has a set start date but you can join it and work through it after it starts.
- Available now
- 1 November 2021
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to:
- Explore scientific and philosophical concepts for understanding our own minds.
- Discuss four aspects of the mind, namely subjectivity, intentionality, consciousness and agency.
- Reflect on what it is to be a mind, why we have a mind and what it feels like to have a mind.
Who will you learn with?
Mark Solms
Chair of Neuropsychology at UCT, founder of Neuropsychoanalysis which encompasses the integration of psychoanalytic theories and modern neuroscience.
Who developed the course?
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is one of the leading higher education and research institutions on the African continent and has a tradition of academic excellence that is respected worldwide.