BLAB: Second and subsequent meetings/readings

[Gary Varner]

BLABers - If you read nothing else in this email, read the “*IMPORTANT NOTE*”
below.

At the first meeting of the BLAB (last Friday), we resolved to do two things:

(1) We will meet next on Friday, October 1, at the same time and place (my [and
Melissa's and our cats'] house on Woodson Drive, at 4:00 p.m.), to discuss
cognition in elephants and/or swine. A message regarding the readings, which
will be designated by Ted Friend’s Animal Science group, will follow.

(2) We resolved to thereafter focus on a book of very general interest, titled
*The Evolution of Consciousness*. It's by a prominent British psychologist,
Euan Macphail. It includes overviews of: (a) theories of the mind-body
relationship in both philosophy and psychology, (b) comparative studies of
cognition and learning in various animal taxa, (c) the significance of pain and
the concept of self, and (d) a novel argument for the neo-Cartesian conclusion
that only humans are conscious. The Oxford University Press blurb on the book
and some snippets of reviews are here:

http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Psychology/Cognitive/?ci=0198503245&view=usa

The Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research (CHR) provides some
funding support to this reading group, and last Friday we agreed that a good
use of some of the allocated funds would be to subsidize purchases of the above
book. After talking to CHR Director Jim Rosenheim, it looks like the best way to
do this is as follows. The book is selling for about $30 (a little pricey for a
paperback, but not outrageous for an academic book from Oxford University
Press). I will order all copies of the book at my own expense. We will ask
graduate student participants in the BLAB to pony up $5 out of pocket, and
faculty to pony up $10. Then I will file one reimbursement request equal to the
total cost of the books (and postage) minus the $5s and $10s from students and
faculty.

*IMPORTANT NOTE*: To purchase a copy of this book at the subsidized rate, you
must get your contribution ($5 for grad students, $10 for faculty) to me by our
next meeting. If you cannot make our next meeting, you can bring cash to my
office (305A Bolton Hall) or send a check (but *not* cash), made out to my
name, through campus mail to: Gary Varner, Philosophy, MS 4237.

Finally, on a personal note: Since I suggested starting with fish again this
(like last) year, Ted Friend suggested having a fish scientist in next time. As
I BLABed last Friday, however, I think the interest in fish is largely
idiosyncratic to me and should be dropped quickly (like a slimy, fresh-caught
bass) for more sexy, warm-blooded critters.

Fishily,
--
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