philosophy of mind | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Episode 179: William James’s Introspective Psychology (Part Two)

December 25, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 7 Comments

Continuing on Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892), completing “The Stream of Thought” and covering the chapter on “Habit.”

James thinks that psychologists focus too much on those parts of consciousness that get picked out by substantive words. He describes habit as part of a general natural pattern in which things that happen once tend to create pathways for themselves in surrounding material to allow the same thing to happen again more easily. Be careful what you do, because your organism is recording all of your bad behavior and corrupting your character!

Start with part one or get the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL! Get a 2018 PEL Wall Calendar!

End song: “Drowning Mind (feedback overload)” by AMP, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #57.

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Episode 179: William James’s Introspective Psychology (Part One)

December 18, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

On The Principles of Psychology (1890) chapters 1 & 7, and Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892), the chapters on “The Stream of Thought,” “Habit,” and some of “The Self.”

Can we talk about the mind in a way that is both scientific and also does justice to our everyday experiences? James thought his method, which involved both introspection and physiology, yielded more accurate descriptions of the mind than associationism (the mind is made up of ideas) or spiritualism (the mind is a faculty of the soul). Consciousness is a stream, not a concatenation of ideas!

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Episode 179: William James’s Introspective Psychology (Citizen Edition)

December 17, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

On The Principles of Psychology (1890) chapters 1 & 7, and Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892), the chapters on “The Stream of Thought,” “Habit,” and some of “The Self.”

End song: “Drowning Mind (feedback overload)” by AMP, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #57.

Episode 153: Richard Rorty: There Is No Mind-Body Problem (Part Two)

December 12, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 10 Comments

Continuing on Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, Part I: “Our Glassy Essence.” Rorty relates the immateriality of mind to the ontology of universals. Plus, the return of the semantic/syntactic distinction! With guest Stephen Metcalf.

End song: “Wall of Nothingness” from Sky Cries Mary from This Timeless Turning (1994). Listen to Mark’s interview with the band’s frontman, Roderick Romero, in Nakedly Examined Music ep. 9.

Episode 153: Richard Rorty: There Is No Mind-Body Problem (Part One)

December 5, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 11 Comments

On Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979), Part I: “Our Glassy Essence.”

“The mind” seems to be an unavoidable part of our basic conceptual vocabulary, but Rorty thinks not, and he wants to use the history of philosophy as a kind of therapy to show that many of our seemingly insoluble problems like the relation between mind and body are a result philosophical mistakes by Descartes, Locke, and Kant. With guest Stephen Metcalf.

Episode 153: Richard Rorty: There Is No Mind-Body Problem (Citizen Edition)

December 4, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

On Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979), Part I: “Our Glassy Essence.”

End song: “Wall of Nothingness” from Sky Cries Mary from This Timeless Turning (1994). Listen to Mark’s interview with the band’s frontman, Roderick Romero, in Nakedly Examined Music ep. 9.

What Is It Like to Be Ourselves? A Debate on Consciousness and the Mind

October 25, 2016 by Ana Sandoiu 22 Comments

Although we spend most of our lives in a state of consciousness, as soon as we subject it to more careful scrutiny we realize that we know very little about it—how does it actually happen? And how does conscious experience fit into our scientific picture of the world?

Episode 138: Guest John Searle on Perception

April 25, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 34 Comments

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).

Episode 138: John Searle Interview on Perception (Citizen Edition)

April 24, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 7 Comments

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.

End song: “Flesh and Blood” from The MayTricks’ Happy Songs Will Bring You Down (1994).

Episode 131: Aristotle’s “De Anima”: What Is the Mind?

January 11, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

Our second discussion of De Anima or On the Soul (350 BCE), this time on book 3. What is the intellect? We talk about its highest part/function: nous, which is a “form of forms,” literally nothing until it thinks, survives death and is not actually yours or mine, but just the universal mind!

This continues the discussion from ep. 130 and includes a preview of the Aftershow featuring Rebecca Goldner.

End song: “Wonderful You” (live 2001) by Mark Lint.

Episode 131: Aristotle’s “De Anima”: What Is the Mind? (Citizen Edition)

January 11, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

Continued from ep. 130. The discussion concludes with the Aftershow featuring Rebecca Goldner.

End song: “Wonderful You” (live 2001) by Mark Lint.

New in Not School: Niebuhr, Kant, Zizek, Lovecraft

October 6, 2015 by Nathan Hanks Leave a Comment

We have group proposals for October on the table, including Zizek’s Contingency, Hegemony and Universality, Reinhold Niebuhr’s The Irony of American History, and Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. The Fiction group will be reading The Call of Cthulhu.

Episode 116: Freud on Dreams

May 25, 2015 by Mark Linsenmayer 9 Comments

On Sigmund Freud’s On Dreams (1902) and other stuff. Are dreams just random, or our best key to understanding the mind?

After you listen to this, check out the aftershow.

End song: “Sleep” by Mark Lint. Read about it.

Topic for #116 Freud on Dreams

May 23, 2015 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

We’ll talk about what Freud thinks dreams are for. Citizens can listen now, and the public episode will be released on two parts starting Monday.

Episode 116: Freud on Dreams (Citizen Edition)

May 23, 2015 by Mark Linsenmayer 7 Comments

On Sigmund Freud’s On Dreams (1902), a bit of The Interpretation of Dreams (1899), and the lecture, “Revision of the Theory of Dreams” (1933).

Are dreams just a bunch of random crap? Freud says, no, they’re actually the first and best way to figure out the structure of the mind, which (surprise) involves the unconscious and how repressed, anti-social desires get (sort of) revealed to us, albeit smashed together through chains of association with what seems like random crap. How can Freud support such a view? Is it science? What are its implications for our capacity to philosophize?

End song: “Sleep” by Mark Lint.

Citizen Interview with Nicholas Humphrey, a Leading Figure in Mind and Consciousness

May 22, 2015 by John Ludders 1 Comment

Having the opportunity to speak with Nicholas Humphrey was a phenomenal experience (pun intended). His accounts of discussing dreams with Francis Crick, debating the best materialist arguments with Dan Dennett, working on blindsight, describing how personhood and ethics arise out of consciousness, and positing that our minds act as artists to make us fall in love with ourselves, make for a wonderful and enlightening listen.

Soul Dust: A Well Supported Stab At The “Why” Of Consciousness.

March 30, 2015 by John Ludders 13 Comments

Consciousness, Nicholas Humphrey claims, does not add or enhance some survival ability (as, say, wings allow birds to fly). Consciousness improves the chance of survival because it makes life worth living. Being phenomenally conscious grants import, meaning, and ego, essentially fooling us into striving towards fulfillment.

Episode 108: Dangers of A.I. with Guest Nick Bostrom

January 6, 2015 by Mark Linsenmayer 45 Comments

On Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, and Strategies (2014) with the author. What can we predict about, and how can we control in advance, the motivations of the entity likely to result from eventual advances in machine learning? Also with guest Luke Muehlhauser.