Daniel Dennett Retrospective
June 30, 2024
In April 2024, we lost one of the greatest American philosophers of our time—Daniel Dennett.…
Minds and Matter
June 4, 2023
Everything that seems to have a mind also has a body made of flesh and blood. But…
Conscious Machines
June 5, 2022
Computers have already surpassed us in their ability to perform certain cognitive tasks. Perhaps it…
Altered States
March 3, 2019
Aldous Huxley explains his conception of the brain as a “reducing valve” of consciousness in…
The Phenomenology of Lived Experience
April 23, 2017
Phenomenology is the philosophical study of experience and consciousness, performed by philosophers ranging from Sartre…
The Limits of Self-Knowledge
June 26, 2016
Descartes considered the mind to be fully self-transparent; that is, he thought that we need…
Reincarnation – Past Lives, Future Selves
May 3, 2015
According to Buddhist tradition, all people must suffer illness, aging, and death. Yet the universe…
Physics, Philosophy, and Theology
June 9, 2013
The world disclosed by the physical sciences can seem depressing. Modern physics, for example, has…
From the Minds of Babies
October 9, 2011
Consciousness, morality, meaning and truth have perplexed and puzzled generations upon generations of philosophers. But…
Levels of Reality
November 14, 2010
Are there levels of reality, with each level emerging from the other in a way…
Creativity
October 17, 2010
What makes an idea or work of art creative? Can creativity be measured? Can a…
Dualism
September 19, 2010
What is the relationship between the mind and the brain? Monists believe that there is…
Persons, Selves, Souls, and Loops
December 27, 2009
Can a self, a consciousness, an “I” arise out of mere matter? If it cannot,…
Personal Identity
October 25, 2009
What is necessary for a person to survive over time? Is it the continued existence…
Can Science Explain Consciousness?
April 19, 2009
Humans are conscious, billiard balls are not, and computers aren’t either. But all three are…
Philosophy and Neuroscience
September 21, 2008
Philosophers have always been concerned with the mind. What is consciousness? Representation? Emotion? Now that…
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