Discussing articles by Alan Turing, Gilbert Ryle, Thomas Nagel, John Searle, and Dan Dennett. 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. What is this mind stuff, and how can it "be" the brain? Can computers think? No? What if they're really sexified? Continue Reading …
Episode 138: Guest John Searle on Perception
We interview John about Seeing Things as They Are: A Theory of Perception (2015). What is perception? Searle says that it's not a matter of seeing a representation, which is then somehow related to things in the real world. We see the actual objects, with no mediation. But then how can there be illusions? Well, we see things under an aspect: a presentation of the thing. And Continue Reading …
Ep. 138: John Searle Interview on Perception (Citizen Edition)
We interview John about Seeing Things as They Are: A Theory of Perception (2015). What is perception? Searle says that it's not a matter of seeing a representation that is then somehow related to things in the real world. We see the actual objects, with no mediation. But then how can there be illusions? Well, we see things under an aspect: a presentation of the thing. And Continue Reading …
Our New Citizen Feed, August Not School Doings, and a New Mayor of Not School
[Editor's Note: Thanks very much to everyone who's become a PEL Citizen. Your support has made our ongoing ambitions to produce this podcast viable, now with more frequent episodes, with a live show coming up in Pittsburgh in September, and we were able last week to send Seth to a big podcasting conference last week (we were nominated for but did not win an award). We've also Continue Reading …
Discuss Free Will (John Searle, Sam Harris) with Not School
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 essay "Freedom as a Problem in Continue Reading …
Not School Digest Jan 2013: A Bonus Quasisode
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. How does the world fit together, with its different layers of organization, each with its different Continue Reading …
How Brief is Too Brief? (Not School Discussion of Searle Now Posted)
[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 provides a sweeping overview of the progression of Continue Reading …
Not School: John Searle’s “Mind: A Brief Introduction” (Second Discussion)
Continuing on 1/17/13 the discussion begun in part 1, by which time the group had read the whole book. Continue Reading …
Not School: John Searle’s “Mind: A Brief Introduction” (First Discussion)
Featuring Evan Gould, Bill Burgess, Alan Cook, Steven Lindsay, Daniel Cole. Recorded 1/2/13. Within roughly the first half of his 2004 book Mind: A Brief Introduction, John Searle provides a sweeping overview of the progression of the philosophy of mind from Descartes's Substance Dualism, through developing stages of thought characterized by various facets of Materialism, Continue Reading …
John Searle on Ludwig Wittgenstein
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 Continue Reading …
John Searle’s Course Audio Available Online
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 idea he Continue Reading …
Episode 21: What Is the Mind? (Turing, et al) (Citizens Only)
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? No? What if they're really sexified? Then can they think? Can the mind be a computer? Can it be a room with a guy in it that doesn't speak Chinese? Can science completely understand it? ...The mind, that Continue Reading …
PREVIEW-Episode 21: What Is the Mind? (Turing, et al)
This is a 31-minute preview of a 2 hr, 20-minute episode. Buy Now Purchase this episode for $2.99. Or become a PEL Citizen for $5 a month, and get access to this and all other paywalled episodes, including 68 back catalogue episodes; exclusive Part 2's for episodes published after September, 2020; and our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat Continue Reading …