The Partially Examined Life (PEL) focused on the philosophy of mind for much of September. The month continued the discussion of Daniel Dennett, moving from his model of consciousness to his rejection of qualia. Closereads then looked at his later account of consciousness as “fame in the brain.” Donald Davidson approached the mind from another direction with the problem of first-person authority, while U.T. Place and J.J.C. Smart brought the month toward a more basic question: Could consciousness simply be a brain process?
Pretty Much Pop had a busy September, closing one season with Spider-Man before turning to Furious and the history of teen drama on screen. Philosophy vs. Improv also reached the end of a season, followed by an interlude on philosophy and theater. Nakedly Examined Music featured Jacqui Hunt and Joan Wasser. And in the middle of all that, PEL reached episode 400, appropriately enough in the midst of its extended discussion of Dennett and consciousness.
PMP#229: What’s Spider-Man Up To?
September 1st
It’s been 2019 since our last Spider-Man episode, so what’s with the new film (Brand New Day), and the Spider-Verse, and Nicholas Cage being Spider Noir? Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al discuss in this, our SEASON FINALE!
Closereads: Donald Davidson on Self-Knowledge (Part One)
September 2nd
On “First Person Authority” (1984). What warrants our superior knowledge of our own mental states, as oppose to those of others? Why is this not obvious?
Ep. 399: Dan Dennett’s Model of Mind (Part Two)
September 7th
Dennett seemed to be saying that the phi-phenomenon (where we see a dot as having moved and transformed into another dot, whereas it was really just two dots shown successively in different places) showed that there’s no distinction between experiencing …
PvI#124: Navel Evaluation (Our Season 5 Finale)
September 7th
We wrap up Mary’s first year with the podcast, and changes are afoot for our upcoming season, but why? Let’s explore to the point of physical discomfort! We act out an odd annual employee review …
NEM#260: Jacqui Hunt (Single Gun Theory Singer) Now Master of Her Synth Domain
September 10th
Jacqui rose to fame with the Australian electronic dance band Single Gun Theory (three albums released 1987, 1991, 1994), did some one-off collaborations (e.g. singing for Delirium), and released her first solo album in 2008 …
Ep. 400: Dennett Rejects Qualia (Part One)
September 13th
We’ve given the basic outline of Dennett’s positive view of what consciousness is: By advocating the multiple drafts model, he’s argued that consciousness is essentially a matter of information availability, and that it’s very much a matter of degree. There is no special stream of consciousness …
PMP#230: Gettin’ Furious
September 15th
To begin our new season, we’re up to the moment covering the first season of Elizabeth Meriwether’s Hulu crime drama Furious …
Closereads: Late Dennett on Consciousness (Part One)
September 20th
On “Are We Explaining Consciousness Yet?” (2001), which was published along with various papers by psychologists, neurologists, and other researchers to discuss the “growing consensus” about the architecture of the mind, which Dennett takes to be concordant with his view as stated a decade earlier …
Ep. 400: Dennett Rejects Qualia (Part Two)
September 20th
We continue discussing Dennett’s response in ch. 14 to Nagel’s “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” which gets us in a whole conversation about animal consciousness. What is it like to be any languageless creature? Dennett thinks we can say a lot of things about what it can’t be like …
PvI Interlude: Philosophy vs. Theater w/ David Epstein
September 23rd
In between seasons here, we’ve got some business, which is that not too long after our Redacted episode, I did a follow-up episode with that same acting coach, whom I can now reveal to be my old high-school classmate David L. Epstein, who runs Actor Class off of Times Square …
Ep. 401: Mind/Brain Identity Theory (U.T. Place, J.J.C. Smart) (Part One)
September 27th
On U.T. Place’s “Is Consciousness a Brain Process?” (1956) and J.J.C. Smart’s “Sensations and Brain Processes” (1959). Featuring Mark, Wes, Seth, and Chris Heath. Is there some a priori reason for denying that the mind can actually be the brain?
PMP#231: Euphoric Teens
September 29th
We discuss high school drama TV shows and films in light of the genre-breaking, star-birthing teen drama Euphoria (3 seasons, 2019-2026), created by Sam Levinson after HBO got the rights to an Israeli drama that provided the basic situation…
NEM#261: Joan as Policewoman’s Living Growth
September 30th
Joan Wasser started as violinist/support member in the 90s for The Dambuilders and then for Mind Science of the Mind and Antony and the Johnsons. In the mid-90s, she co-led a band called Black Beetle…
There’s more to come in October!
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