The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog
Discussing articles by Alan Turing, Gilbert Ryle, Thomas Nagel, John Searle, and Dan Dennett. What is this mind stuff, and how can it “be” the brain? Can computers think? What is it like to be a bat? With guest Marco Wise.
Plus a new intro by Mark, Wes, and Seth reflecting back on this 2010 discussion, which we’re re-releasing to help you prepare for our upcoming episodes in this area.
End Song: “No Mind” by Mark Lint and the Fake Johnson Trio (1998).
We interview John about Seeing Things As They Are (2015). What is perception? Searle says that it’s not a matter of seeing a representation, which is then related to things in the real world. We see the actual objects, with no mediation. But then how can there be illusions? Well, it’s complicated, but not too complicated, just some funny terminology that this episode will teach you.
Searle lays out his theory for us and amusingly dismisses much of the history of philosophy in the first half, and then Mark, Wes, and Dylan continue the discussion to make sure we understood what was just said and chase down some threads of the conversation.
End song: “Flesh and Blood” from The MayTricks’ Happy Songs Will Bring You Down (1994).
We interview John about Seeing Things As They Are (2015). What is perception? Searle says that it’s not a matter of seeing a representation that is then related to things in the real world. We see the actual objects, with no mediation. But then how can there be illusions? Well, it’s complicated, but not too complicated, just some funny terminology that this episode will teach you.
Searle lays out his theory for us and amusingly dismisses much of the history of philosophy in the first half, and then Mark, Wes, and Dylan continue the discussion to make sure we understood what was just said and chase down some threads of the conversation.
End song: “Flesh and Blood” from The MayTricks’ Happy Songs Will Bring You Down (1994).
Have you hooked up with the PEL Citizens’ feed yet? Listened to the new recordings on C.S. Peirce, Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” and Percy Walker’s The Moviegoer? Get in on Not School groups covering Aeschylus’s Oresteia, John Searle, Isaac Asimov, Franz Fanon, and Peirce’s “How to Make Our Ideas Clear.”
In light of the most recent PEL episode, we folks in PEL’s Not School will be holding a discussion on free will this month through next month. Some of the conversation will be continuous with and complementary to the PEL guys’ discussion as well as perhaps raise other issues. For the remainder of this month, we’ll be reading John Searle’s Continue Reading …
Excerpts of discussions about Deleuze & Guattari’s A Thousand Plateaus, an article on emergence called “More Is Different” by Nobel Prize Winning physicist P.W. Anderson, John Searle’s Mind: A Brief Introduction, and Italo Calvino’s trippy science fantasy novel Cosmicomics.
[Editor’s Note: Here’s a guest post from Evan Gould, who was good enough to record the second discussion of the Not School Philosophy of Mind group for your pleasure. Go sign up to be a PEL Citizen so you can listen to the discussion now.] Within roughly the first half of his 2004 book Mind: A Brief Introduction, John Searle Continue Reading …
Continuing on 1/17/13 the discussion begun in part 1, by which time the group had read the whole book.
Featuring Evan Gould, Bill Burgess, Alan Cook, Steven Lindsay, Daniel Cole. Recorded 1/2/13. On biological naturalism, which sees mind as a sort of “surface feature” which manifests itself in the brain only macroscopically, though its existence and activity are completely causally explained by neurobiological activity.
I enjoy listening to philosophers I respect talk about the life and thought of other philosophers. Below is a discussion between the popularizer of philosophy Bryan Magee and the great John Searle. Watch on YouTube. Magee is an under-appreciated philosopher. His books The Philosophy of Schopenhauerand Confessions of a Philosopherhave always impressed me with their lucidity and originality. Also, his Continue Reading …
OpenCulture.com has posted links to three complete, free courses from the great philosophy of mind and language professor John Searle from UC-Berkeley. You may remember Searle from the Chinese Room argument as discussed in our philosophy of mind episode. These courses are on mind, language, and “philosophy of society,” which I will surely be checking out, as I had no Continue Reading …
Discussing articles by Alan Turing, Gilbert Ryle, Thomas Nagel, John Searle, and Dan Dennett. What is this mind stuff, and how can it “be” the brain? Can computers think? What is it like to be a bat? With guest Marco Wise.
End Song: “No Mind” by Mark Lint and the Fake Johnson Trio (1998)
Discussing articles by Alan Turing, Gilbert Ryle, Thomas Nagel, John Searle, and Dan Dennett. What is this mind stuff, and how can it “be” the brain? Can computers think? What is it like to be a bat? With guest Marco Wise.
