This course has two parts. The first part presents two contrasting models of mind from the main stream of the Western humanistic tradition. This presentation will be based on close reading of primary texts. The second part will consist of book reports by students on some of the latest and very best publications on current issues concerning the relation between mind and brain and their implications for what it means to be a human being. These issues are emerging from interdisciplinary investigations focusing on our various neuroscientific and evolutionary features and raise serious challenges to a broad range of traditional beliefs about our human capacities.