Ellen Langer, Sean Carroll, and Tamar Gendler get into the weeds of consciousness and what science can tell us about it.

Do you think we'll ever solve the mystery of consciousness?

Watch the full debate at https://iai.tv/video/mind-matter-and-...

There is a widespread belief that we are getting closer to describing how the mind works. In a 2020 survey of English-speaking philosophers, more than half thought materialism described the human mind. But critics point to the danger of imagining that an ever more sophisticated material account of the brain brings us nearer to an understanding of consciousness. After all, we don't have an explanation of a single thought let alone for experience as a whole. And even Richard Dawkins said that scientists 'are no more equipped to deal with consciousness than anyone else'.
Do we need to accept that material stuff is a radically different sort of thing than thought and consciousness, and one can never be explained in terms of the other? Can we overcome the opposition of the physical and the mental by seeing them as linguistic categories rather than ultimate metaphysical states? Or can materialism pull the rabbit from the hat and be extended to account for thought and experience?

#consciousness #science #metaphysics

Sean Carroll is the Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at John Hopkins University, and Fractal Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. He also hosts the weekly podcast Mindscape, which explores interesting ideas in science, philosophy, culture, and the arts.

Ellen Langer is Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and the author of The Mindful Body. Among other honours, she is the recipient of three distinguished scientist awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Liberty Science Genius Award. She is widely known as the mother of mindfulness.

Tamar Gendler is Yale University's Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy, and Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science. A philosophical powerhouse bringing together the techniques of traditional Anglo-American philosophy with empirical work from psychology and other social sciences.

Jack Symes hosts.
The Institute of Art and Ideas features videos and articles from cutting edge thinkers discussing the ideas that are shaping the world, from metaphysics to string theory, technology to democracy, aesthetics to genetics. Subscribe today! https://iai.tv/subscribe?utm_source=Y...

00:00 Introduction
00:20 Can science provide ultimate answers?
01:00 Ellen Langer challenges science
04:25 Sean Carroll defends science
10:55 Tamar Gendler on philosophy and metaphysics

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