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King’s College London
This paper is part of an examination of the College counting
towards the award of a degree. Examinations are governed by
the College Regulations under the authority of the Academic
Board.
BSC/BA/BENG/MB BS EXAMINATION
5AAN5000
Neuroscience & the Mind
Examination Period 2 (May 2015)
TIME ALLOWED: 3 HOURS
Answer THREE questions, AT LEAST ONE from each section.
Avoid overlap in your answers.
DO NOT REMOVE THIS PAPER FROM THE EXAMINATION
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TURN OVER WHEN INSTRUCTED
2015 © King’s College London
5AAN5000
Section A
1. What reasons does Descartes give for doubting the senses?
What kinds of beliefs are disqualified from the realm of
knowledge as a result of these doubts?
2. What is Descartes’ argument for substance dualism? Rehearse
one objection to Descartes’ argument.
3. According to functionalism, how is a mental state
characterized? How is this different from the way in which an
identity theorist would characterize a mental state? Which
approach is more plausible?
4. What is the embodied cognition theorist’s main criticism of
traditional cognitive science? Give three examples that the
embodied cognition theorist might use to support her case.
5. What is the hard problem of consciousness? Why does
Chalmers think that standard science will not be able to solve
this problem?
6. According to Levy and Savulescu, what is the difference
between a moral patient and a moral agent and what kind of
ethical considerations does each kind of status entail? Rehearse
one objection to their position.
Section B
7. How does Van Inwagen argue that free will and determinism
are incompatible? Assess at least one compatibilist response to
that argument.
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5AAN5000
8. How does Frankfurt motivate the claim that having the ability
to do otherwise is irrelevant to the question of whether we can
will freely? Is he right?
9. What does Libet take his experimental results to show about
the role of conscious intention in voluntary action? Discuss two
forms of objection to his interpretation of those results.
10. Why do Gopnik & Wellman think that our ‘theory of mind’
involves use of a genuine theory? Describe and assess two
objections to Gopnik & Wellman’s view.
11. Would the presence of mirror neurons in the human cortex
support the simulation theory of our awareness of others’ minds?
Discuss an objection to that view.
12. Is autism best characterised primarily as a problem with
individuals’ theories of mind? Does it support any one model of
our theory of mind over others?
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