The Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast

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Episode 49, Corey Mohler: Behind Existential Comics (Part I) Oct 21, 2018

Show notes

Corey Mohler is a software engineer from Portland, Oregon, USA. With no formal education in philosophy, it might come as a surprise that Corey is the author of the incredibly popular philosophy webcomic, Existential Comics. Founded in December 2013, Existential Comics describes itself as

"a philosophy webcomic about the inevitable anguish of living a brief life in an absurd world. Also jokes."

The comic receives well over one million views per month, making it one of the most popular philosophy websites on the internet.

In Part I, we're going to be discussing the ideas bubbling behind 'Existential Comics', and in Part II, we'll be engaging in some further analysis and discussion, as well as asking some listener questions.

Contents

Part I. Behind Existential Comics

Part II. Further Analysis and Discussion

Episode 48, Rebecca Goldstein: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away (Part II) Oct 14, 2018

Show notes

Professor Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is one of the most influential thinkers in the world of public philosophy. Amongst many other philosophical texts, Goldstein is the author of The Mind-Body Problem, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction and Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away. For many, Goldstein's talent for bringing philosophy to life through her wit and beautiful storytelling is unapparelled. In the words of A. C. Grayling,

"Like Plato… Goldstein has both literary and philosophical gifts of the highest order: the combination is superb."

The list of Goldstein's accomplishments is exhaustingly extensive; let us mention just five of many. Professor Goldstein was named a MacArthur Fellow (popularly known as the "genius award") in 1996 and elected to The American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005. In 2011, she was designated Free-thought Heroine by the Freedom from Religion Foundation and Humanist of the Year by The American Humanist Association, and in September of 2015, awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama in a ceremony at the White House. The reason cited?

"For bringing philosophy into conversation with culture. In scholarship, Dr Goldstein has elucidated the ideas of Spinoza and Gödel, while in fiction, she deploys wit and drama to help us understand the great human conflict between thought and feeling."

Episode 48, Rebecca Goldstein: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away (Part I) Oct 07, 2018

Show notes

Welcome to 'Episode 48 (Part I)', where we'll be talking to Rebecca Newberger Goldstein about the nature and purpose of philosophy.

"Like Plato… Goldstein has both literary and philosophical gifts of the highest order: the combination is superb."

Episode 47, Hedda Hassel Mørch: Consciousness and Integrated Information Theory (Part II) Sep 30, 2018

Show notes

Hedda Hassel Mørch is a philosopher and post-doc at the University of Oslo, previously at The Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness at New York University. Dr Mørch's research focuses on panpsychism, neutral monism and liberal conceptions of physicalism. More specifically, how such views can respond to problems in philosophy of mind and metaphysics, such as the hard problem of consciousness (namely, how does soggy grey matter give rise to technicolour experience), the problem of mental causation (how can the mind interact the world), and the metaphysics of causation (what does it really mean for one event to 'cause' another).

In this episode, we're going to be discussing these topics with Hedda, but focus more specifically, on her views on consciousness and Integrated Information Theory. In Hedda's own words:

"The nature of consciousness seems to be unique among scientific puzzles. Not only do neuroscientists have no fundamental explanation for how it arises from physical states of the brain, we are not even sure whether we ever will."

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Contents

Part I. Integrated Information Theory.

Part II. Further Analysis and Discussion.

Episode 47, Hedda Hassel Mørch: Consciousness and Integrated Information Theory (Part I) Sep 23, 2018

Show notes

In this episode, we're going to be discussing these topics with Hedda, but focus more specifically, on her views on consciousness and Integrated Information Theory. In Hedda's own words:

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Contents

Part I. Integrated Information Theory.

Part II. Further Analysis and Discussion.

Episode 46, Peter Adamson and the History of Women in Philosophy (Part II) Sep 16, 2018

Show notes

Peter Adamson is Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and the host of the History of Philosophy without and gaps podcast. The range of Peter's expertise is phenomenal. The depth and breadth of his podcast History of Philosophy without any gaps is simply unrivalled, and the success of Peter's projects has led him to publish a range of books in the aforementioned areas.

Contents

Part I. The History of Women in Philosophy.

Part II. Further Analysis, Discussion and 'The Man Behind the Podcast'.

Episode 46, Peter Adamson and the History of Women in Philosophy (Part I) Sep 09, 2018

Show notes

Peter Adamson is Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and the host of the History of Philosophy without any gaps podcast. Peter's main publications focus on Classical Philosophy, Philosophy in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds, and Philosophy in the Islamic World, but the range of Peter's expertise is phenomenal. The depth and breadth of his podcast History of Philosophy without any gaps is simply unrivalled, and the success of Peter's projects has led him to publish a range of books in the aforementioned areas.

So, in Part I, we'll be speaking to Peter Adamson about the history of women in philosophy, and in Part II, we'll be engaging in some further analysis and discussion, asking some listener questions, and getting at 'the man behind the podcast'.

Contents

Part I. The History of Women in Philosophy.

Part II. Further Analysis, Discussion and 'The Man Behind the Podcast'.

Episode 45, Christianity, Gender and Society (Part II) Sep 02, 2018

Show notes

Out now! Our audiobook 'Developments in Christian Thought' is free to download on all major podcast apps and at our website www.thepanpsycast.com/audiobook. For more information, take a little peak in the iTunes description (or at the bottom of this page).

The audiobook is made up of 24-chapters, equally divided into 2-parts, which have been imaginatively named Part I and Part II. Part I contains 12 in-depth discussions, in which we talk through the history of theological thought within Christianity (as specified by the OCR Developments in Christian Thought specification). In Part II, we'll be interviewing some of the biggest names in theology and philosophy, to name but a few, Yujin Nagasawa, Joseph Shaw, Eric Metaxas, Christopher Rowland, Alison Stone, Michael Wilcockson, David Ford, Peter Ochs and Tim Mawson!

Next week, normal service will resume with 'Episode 46, Peter Adamson and the History of Women in Philosophy (Part I)'. Thank you for all of your support, especially all of our patrons. Projects like this would not be possible without you. If you want to support the show you can do so by visiting www.patreon.com/panpsycast.

If you listened to last week's episode, rather than jumping over to our audiobook page, kick back and enjoy 'Chapter VIII. Gender and Society (Part II)'.

Audiobook Link: www.thepanpsycast.com/audiobook

Audiobook on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/developments-in-christian-thought/id1434044057?mt=2

Episode 45, Christianity, Gender and Society (Part I) Aug 26, 2018

Show notes

We've been working tirelessly on our upcoming audiobook, Developments in Christian Thought, which is due to be released, free of charge, on August 28th 2018. If you're listening to this past August 28th, you can find a link to the audiobook in the iTunes description (or at the bottom of this page).

We can't wait to share it with you. So we decided to release one of our favourite chapters early. What you're about to hear is Part I of 'Chapter VIII. Gender and Society'. In this instalment, we look at the history of the Church, relating to issues surrounding sex and gender.

Next week, we'll be releasing the second instalment of this chapter, where we'll be looking at secular challenges to the church, through the work of thinkers such as Simone de Beauvoir and Harriet Taylor.

The audiobook is 24-chapters long. As well as 12 discussions between myself, Olly and Andrew, you can expect interviews with Yujin Nagasawa, Daniel Hill, Thom Atkinson, Peter Adamson, Joseph Shaw, Eric Metaxas, Christopher Rowland, Alison Stone, Michael Wilcockson, David Ford, Peter Ochs and Tim Mawson. As I mentioned, it's free, so hit the link in the iTunes description. If it's not August 28th yet, then kick back and enjoy 'Chapter VIII. Gender and Society (Part I)'.

Audiobook Link: www.thepanpsycast.com/audiobook

Audiobook on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/developments-in-christian-thought/id1434044057?mt=2

Episode 44, The Steven Pinker Interview Aug 19, 2018

Show notes

As Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, Steven Pinker's list of accomplishments is incredible; he has been named Humanist of the Year, a top "100 Global Thinker" by Foreign Policy and included in Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World Today."

Steven has also been awarded eight honorary doctorates and his research on language, vision and social relations has won prizes from the National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, the American Psychological Association, and the Association for Psychological Science.

Needless to say, that Steven's work has been deeply influential. Amongst his most well-read works, Steven in the author of, The Language Instinct, How The Mind Works, Words and Rules, The Blank Slate, The Stuff of Thought, Better Angels of Our Nature, and most recently, Enlightenment Now.

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