Mind Chat

Sarah Lane-Ritchie & Aidan Lyon: What Can Psychedelics Tell Us About Mind & Reality? Apr 28, 2024

Can taking psychedelics teach us more about the mind than science and philosophy? Is it rational to trust what mystical experiences seem to be telling us about ultimate reality? These are questions Keith and Philip would like the answers to, and apparently Sarah Lane-Ritchie and Aidan Lyon have them. Join us to find out what they are!

Kevin Mitchell: Do We Have Free Will? Apr 28, 2024

Kevin Mitchell is Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin. He is also the author of the wonderful recent book 'Free Agents: How Evolution Gave us Free will', a robust defence of the reality of free will. Between the three of us, we aim to definitely establish whether or not humans are free.

For more on Kevin Mitchell:

https://press.princeton.edu/books/har...

https://www.kjmitchell.com/

Timings

0:00 – Amusing Banter

4:41 – Introducing Kevin Mitchell

6:07 – Kevin’s view

16:12 – The Philosophy of Free Will

29:03 – Keith Probes Kevin

51:25 – Philip and Keith disagree on how to interpret Kevin’s position

1:01:00 – Does quantum mechanics help?

1:24:12 – Keith can’t help himself

1:30:24 – Philip mutes Keith

1:30:57 – Audience Q&A

1:43:33 – Final banter and Mind Chat catchphrase

Cat Gillen: Do Electrons Exist? Nov 27, 2023

Recently Philip and Sabine Hossenfelder had a discussion on Twitter about the relationship between science and the entities referred to in scientific theories: https://twitter.com/Philip_Goff/status/1725487476695830778. We're going to interview philosopher of science doctoral candidate Cat Gillen (Durham University) on the debates between realists and instrumentalists in the philosophy of science. To support this podcast, please consider donating to our Patreon, including joining the Mind Chat community that discusses each month's episode with Philip and Keith following the broadcast: https://www.patreon.com/MindChat

Halloween Special! The Purpose of the Universe Nov 06, 2023

Keith and Philip will discuss Philip's new book 'Why? The Purpose of the Universe.' https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Purpose-Universe-Philip-Goff/dp/0198883765

Donald Hoffman: What is Reality? Jul 25, 2023

Donald Hoffman is a cognitive scientist at UC Irvine and author of 'The Case Against Reality.' He believes that the world we experience is an illusion, whilst ultimate reality is composed of networks of conscious agents. Keith and Philip probe Professor Hoffman's view from their very different perspectives on the nature of consciousness.

Here's the paper we discuss at length which argues that Donald's argument from evolution is self-defeating: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11229-022-04021-1

Here's Donald's recent co-written paper in which the authors attempt to ground physics in networks of conscious agents: https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/25/1/129

Eric Schwitzgebel : Is the United States Conscious? Jul 25, 2023

Eric Schwitzgebel is professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Riverside. His research interests include philosophy of psychology, philosophy of mind, moral psychology, classical Chinese philosophy, epistemology, metaphilosophy, and metaphysics. He has also written a number of pieces of philosophical science fiction, which have been published in leading science fiction magazines.

Michelle Liu and Edouard Machery: Is the 'Hard Problem of Consciousness' Nonsense Invented by Philosophers? Apr 10, 2023

Many philosophers worry about David Chalmers' 'hard problem' of how brains produce consciousness. But do ordinary people who haven't been exposed to the peculiarities of academic philosopher share Chalmers' intuition that there's a problem here? Professor Edouard Machery (University of Pittsburgh-Carnegie Mellon University) answers 'no.' Machery thinks the concept of 'phenomenal consciousness' that gives rise to these intuitions is an invention of academic philosophers, and he's built an empirical case to support his view, based on interviews with the general public. Dr Michelle Liu (University of Hertfordshire-Monash) has responded to the arguments of Machery and others, suggesting they may be ignoring to polysemous nature of language. Keith and Philip will host a friendly debate/discussion between Machery and Liu, whilst trying to resist the temptation to bring the discussion back to panpsychism and illusionism.

Frank Jackson: The Greatest Argument Against Materialism Apr 10, 2023

Professor Frank Jackson (Australian National University) came up with one of the most influential arguments against materialism about consciousness, a version of the 'knowledge argument', involving the story of Black and White Mary. Ironically, Jackson later recanted and is now a committed materialist. Keith and Philip will discuss with Frank the knowledge argument, why he changed his mind, and what he thinks about consciousness now. (Philip secretly hopes to bring Frank back to the fold of anti-materialists, but it's a long shot).

Francois Kammerer and Luke Roelofs: Illusionism or Panpsychism? Apr 10, 2023

Mind Chat is back!! We've been a bit delayed due to illness in the family and Philip needing to finish a book. This is our delayed Christmas special, and will involve sherry, mince pies, and Christmas jumpers. Last Christmas special, Keith and Philip debated illusionism versus panpsychism. This year, we thought we'd invite a leading illusionist and panpsychist from the next generation of thinkers. Dr Francois Kammerer and Dr Luke Roelofs are both Postdoctoral Research Associates at the Centre for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness at New York University. They have both done incredibly interesting and provocative work defending illusionism and panpsychism, respectively. We're going to have a formal debate-style show, with a Twitter Poll to decide which view is correct. But as you might expect from Mind Chat, this is more in the spirit of fun than a macho fight to prove who's right. ⁠https://www.francoiskammerer.com/⁠

⁠https://www.lukeroelofs.com/⁠

Noam Chomsky: Chomsky on Consciousness Sep 25, 2022

Noam Chomsky is an intellectual giant, who has made major contributions to linguistics, philosophy, and cognitive science. In this episode Keith and Philip explore Professor Chomsky's views on consciousness and the mind.

Streamed live on Sep 15, 2022

Angela Mendelovici: How Does Consciousness Connect us to Reality? Part II Jul 24, 2022

Angela Mendelovici (University of Western Ontorio) is a prominent proponent of the 'Phenomenal Intentionality Theory': the view that all mental representation is at least partly grounded in consciousness. This view contrasts with David Papineau's as to how consciousness connects us to reality, which we discussed in an earlier episode. Our main focus will be to explore the Phenomenal Intentionality Theory, but Angela also happens to be a panpsychist, so Philip is hoping this will finally be a guest that agrees with him more than Keith.

Streamed live on Jun 29, 2022

Angela's website https://publish.uwo.ca/~amendel5/

Ann-Sophie Barwich: Smellosophy--The Philosophy & Neuroscience of Smell Jul 23, 2022

Ann-Sophie Barwich is a cognitive scientist and empirical philosopher, and author of 'Smellosophy: What the Nose Tells the Mind' (Harvard University Press). Ann-Sophie explores how the neuroscience of smell challenges philosophical assumptions about the nature of perception.

Streamed live on Jun 16, 2022

Ann-Sophie's website http://www.smellosophy.com/

Publisher's webpage for Smellosophy https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674983694

Philip Goff: Is Physics Different in the Brain? Jun 28, 2022

In a special follow-up episode, Philip shares some personal reflections on the recent discussion 'What Does Physics Tell Us About Consciousness?' with Sean Carroll and Barry Loewer.

Sean Carroll and Barry Loewer: What Does Physics Tell Us About Consciousness? Jun 28, 2022

We previously had a long chat with Sean Carroll. A big bone of contention with Philip and Sean was the degree to which physics constrains our theory of consciousness. We decided it would be good to explore this issue in its own right, with a bit of help from esteemed philosophy of physics Sean Carroll (Rutgers University). These are Sean's articles we discuss (the latter is a response to Philip's book 'Galileo's Error'): https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.07884 https://philpapers.org/rec/CARCAT-33. Recorded 6 May 2022.

Helen Steward: Do We Have Free Will? Mar 30, 2022

Helen Steward is a philosopher and author of Metaphysics for Freedom (Oxford University Press), which argues that agency itself—and not merely the special, distinctively human variety of it—is incompatible with determinism. Keith and Philip Mind Chat with Helen about whether we have free will, and what that would entail about the ultimate nature of reality,

David Papineau: How Does Consciousness Connect Us To Reality? Mar 19, 2022

Keith and Philip interview David Papineau (Professor of Philosophy at King's College London) about his recent book 'The Metaphysics of Sensory Experience'. David is also a materialist who believes in consciousness, so there'll probably be a big old fight about that too. Link to David's book: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-metaphysics-of-sensory-experience-9780198862390?cc=gb&lang=en&

David Chalmers: Are We Living in a Simulation? Feb 25, 2022

David Chalmers is one of the most important and influential philosophers of consciousness on the contemporary scene. He coined the phrase 'the hard problem of consciousness', and defends 'naturalistic dualism' as an alternative to materialism. In his new book 'Reality+', aimed at a general audience, David explores the big questions of philosophy through the lens of virtual reality. He argues that we don't know whether or not we are in a computer simulation, but that even if we are, it doesn't follow that the physical world around is isn't real. It just means the ultimate nature of the physical world is computational!

Christmas Special: Panpsychism or Illusionism? Dec 16, 2021

In the Mind Chat Christmas special, Keith and Philip take it in turns to interrogate each other about their favoured view of consciousness (illusionism and panpsychism, respectively), based in part on viewers' questions. The episode will culminate in a 15 min twitter poll, in which viewers will decide once and for all whether panpsychism or illusionism is the correct view of consciousness.

Sean Carroll: Is Consciousness Emergent? Nov 15, 2021

Theoretical physicist Sean Carroll joins us to discuss whether it make sense to think of consciousness as an emergent phenomenon, and whether contemporary physics points in this direction.

We discussed Sean's essay responding to Philip's book 'Galileo's Error,' and Philip's counter-response essay. Both are available here: https://conscienceandconsciousness.com/2021/08/01/19-essays-on-galileos-error/

We also discussed Philip's Scientific American article making the case that the move from the fine-tuning to the multiverse commits the 'inverse gambler's fallacy': https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/our-improbable-existence-is-no-evidence-for-a-multiverse/#:~:text=We%20exist%2C%20and%20we%20are,with%20the%20existence%20of%20life.

Finally, Keith and Philip discussed the PhilPapers 2020 survey of philosophers' opinions on philosophical questions, which is linked to from this blog post of Philip's: https://conscienceandconsciousness.com/2021/11/01/materialism-remains-the-majority-view-but-only-just/

Anil Seth: Is Consciousness a Controlled Hallucination? Oct 13, 2021

Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. In this episode we discuss his new book 'Being You: The New Science of Consciousness.'

Helen Yetter-Chappell: Is Reality Made up of Consciousness? Oct 11, 2021

Dr Helen Yetter-Chappell is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at University of Miami. Idealism is the view that the fundamental nature of reality is made up of mentality or consciousness. Inspired by the 18th century idealist philosophy George Berkeley, Helen has developed a version of Berkeley's idealism which dispenses with his commitment to the existence of God. http://yetterchappell.net/Helen/

Matthias Michel: Is a Science of Consciousness Possible? Aug 15, 2021

Matthias Michel is a philosopher whose work focuses on the science of consciousness. In a recent paper he outlines how scientists working on consciousness have been having the same debates for 150 years without reaching consensus. In this episode, we will explore why the science of consciousness is more challenging than other scientific endeavours and examine possible ways forward.

Christof Koch: The Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness Jul 20, 2021

Christof Koch is a neuroscientist and proponent of the integrated information theory of consciousness, or 'IIT". In this episode we explore with Christof the science and philosophy of IIT.

Janet Levin: The Materialist Theory of Consciousness Jun 03, 2021

Professor Janet Levin is a materialist about consciousness. She thinks our feelings and experiences are identical with physical processes in the brain. In this episode we will explore Janet's position and how she responds to arguments that try to show that consciousness alludes physical explanation.

Tim O'Connor: Interview with a Dualist May 22, 2021

Tim O'Connor is a dualist: someone who thinks consciousness is not physical. People tend to think of dualists as believing in the soul, a supernatural entity distinct from the physical workings of the body and the brain. However, Tim's dualism is very different. He thinks consciousness resides in the brain, and is brought into existence by the physical particles that ultimately make up the brain. Nonetheless he rejects the idea that we can explain consciousness in terms of the kind of electro-chemical signalling of the brain. Instead, Tim is a Strong Emergentist: He thinks that particles have special powers to produce non-physical consciousness, powers that only kick in when the particles are arranged in the special combinations we find in brains. To put it another way: the brain as a whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Tim's website: https://toconnor.org/

Tim's entry on ''Emergent Properties' for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/properties-emergent/

Video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/AlUsJRKqEVE

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