Episode 3: Consciousness explained (?) part 2: The nature of explanation

This is the second of a two part discussion between Richard and Pete concerning whether and how consciousness can be explained and whether it should be regarded as a fundamental feature of reality. In this episode, the discussion focuses on the question of what counts as an explanation and what norms govern good explanations in physics as well as in metaphysics.

Episode Audio

Download: MP3 Audio (48.8MB)

Episode Notes and LinksEpisode Notes

This is the second of a two part discussion between Richard and Pete concerning whether and how consciousness can be explained and whether it should be regarded as a fundamental feature of reality. In this episode, the discussion focuses on the question of what counts as an explanation and what norms govern good explanations in physics as well as in metaphysics.

(The music in the episode is by our band, Quiet Karate Reflex. The song in the intro and outro is "SpaceTimeMind Theme Song" and the song in the mid-episode break is "Aristotelian Eye Jelly." More of Quiet Karate Reflex's music can be heard here: http://quietkaratereflex.bandcamp.com/.)

(The video chat between Richard and Pete that this episode's audio is drawn from is viewable on YouTube. For this episode's source content, see especially the last half of the linked video.)

LinksGalen Strawson - Realistic Monism: Why Physicalism Entails Panpsychism Daniel Dennett and Kathleen Akins - Multiple drafts model Higgs Boson at Wikipedia Pete Mandik - Phenomenal Realism and Empirical Depth Field (physics) - at Wikipedia Richard Brown - David Chalmers on Mind and Consciousness in Andrew Bailey (ed) Key Thinkers in Philosophy of Mind http://philpapers.org/archive/BRODCO.pdfSusan Haack - The Justification of Deduction Lewis Carroll - What the Tortoise Said to Achilles Galileo’s paradox - at Wikipedia Pete Mandik - Bigger Than Infinity