Mind Chat
Philip Goff is a philosopher who thinks consciousness pervades the universe. Keith Frankish is a philosopher who thinks consciousness* doesn't even exist. From their very different perspectives, Keith and Philip interview leading scientists and philosophers of consciousness, engaging and debating in a friendly way in pursuit of truth. Mind Chat aims to be highly accessible, allowing those with no background in science and/or philosophy to get a grip on the cutting edge of the field. (*To be more precise, Keith thinks *phenomenal* consciousness doesn't exist; listen to find out what this is.)
Andy Clark: The Experience Machine
10 Dec 2024
Andy Clark is a leading and incredibly influential philosopher and cognitive scientist. Among other things, Andy has done pioneering work on predictive processing and the extended mind thesis. Here
Philip Goff & Keith Frankish: Heretical Christianity
9 Dec 2024
Philip recently went public with his conversion to a heretical form of Christianity (see article and video below). In this episode Keith and Philip discuss this and open up to Q&A. • Why
Annaka Harris: Is Consciousness Everywhere?
9 Dec 2024
Annaka Harris is author of bestselling book "Conscious" and writer and producer of the forthcoming audio documentary series "Lights On." In this episode we mainly focused on panpsychism, although we
Sarah Lane-Ritchie & Aidan Lyon: What Can Psychedelics Tell Us About Mind & Reality?
28 Apr 2024
Can taking psychedelics teach us more about the mind than science and philosophy? Is it rational to trust what mystical experiences seem to be telling us about ultimate reality? These are questions
Kevin Mitchell: Do We Have Free Will?
28 Apr 2024
Kevin Mitchell is Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin. He is also the author of the wonderful recent book 'Free Agents: How Evolution Gave us Free will', a
Cat Gillen: Do Electrons Exist?
27 Nov 2023
Recently Philip and Sabine Hossenfelder had a discussion on Twitter about the relationship between science and the entities referred to in scientific theories:
Halloween Special! The Purpose of the Universe
6 Nov 2023
Keith and Philip will discuss Philip's new book 'Why? The Purpose of the Universe.' https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Purpose-Universe-Philip-Goff/dp/0198883765
Donald Hoffman: What is Reality?
25 Jul 2023
Donald Hoffman is a cognitive scientist at UC Irvine and author of 'The Case Against Reality.' He believes that the world we experience is an illusion, whilst ultimate reality is composed of networks
Eric Schwitzgebel : Is the United States Conscious?
25 Jul 2023
Eric Schwitzgebel is professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Riverside. His research interests include philosophy of psychology, philosophy of mind, moral psychology, classical
Michelle Liu and Edouard Machery: Is the 'Hard Problem of Consciousness' Nonsense Invented by Philosophers?
10 Apr 2023
Many philosophers worry about David Chalmers' 'hard problem' of how brains produce consciousness. But do ordinary people who haven't been exposed to the peculiarities of academic philosopher share
Frank Jackson: The Greatest Argument Against Materialism
10 Apr 2023
Professor Frank Jackson (Australian National University) came up with one of the most influential arguments against materialism about consciousness, a version of the 'knowledge argument', involving
Francois Kammerer and Luke Roelofs: Illusionism or Panpsychism?
10 Apr 2023
Mind Chat is back!! We've been a bit delayed due to illness in the family and Philip needing to finish a book. This is our delayed Christmas special, and will involve sherry, mince pies, and
Noam Chomsky: Chomsky on Consciousness
25 Sep 2022
Noam Chomsky is an intellectual giant, who has made major contributions to linguistics, philosophy, and cognitive science. In this episode Keith and Philip explore Professor Chomsky's views on
Angela Mendelovici: How Does Consciousness Connect us to Reality? Part II
24 Jul 2022
Angela Mendelovici (University of Western Ontorio) is a prominent proponent of the 'Phenomenal Intentionality Theory': the view that all mental representation is at least partly grounded in
Ann-Sophie Barwich: Smellosophy--The Philosophy & Neuroscience of Smell
23 Jul 2022
Ann-Sophie Barwich is a cognitive scientist and empirical philosopher, and author of 'Smellosophy: What the Nose Tells the Mind' (Harvard University Press). Ann-Sophie explores how the neuroscience
Philip Goff: Is Physics Different in the Brain?
28 Jun 2022
In a special follow-up episode, Philip shares some personal reflections on the recent discussion 'What Does Physics Tell Us About Consciousness?' with Sean Carroll and Barry Loewer.
Sean Carroll and Barry Loewer: What Does Physics Tell Us About Consciousness?
28 Jun 2022
We previously had a long chat with Sean Carroll. A big bone of contention with Philip and Sean was the degree to which physics constrains our theory of consciousness. We decided it would be good to
Helen Steward: Do We Have Free Will?
30 Mar 2022
Helen Steward is a philosopher and author of Metaphysics for Freedom (Oxford University Press), which argues that agency itself—and not merely the special, distinctively human variety of it—is
David Papineau: How Does Consciousness Connect Us To Reality?
19 Mar 2022
Keith and Philip interview David Papineau (Professor of Philosophy at King's College London) about his recent book 'The Metaphysics of Sensory Experience'. David is also a materialist who believes in
David Chalmers: Are We Living in a Simulation?
25 Feb 2022
David Chalmers is one of the most important and influential philosophers of consciousness on the contemporary scene. He coined the phrase 'the hard problem of consciousness', and defends
Christmas Special: Panpsychism or Illusionism?
16 Dec 2021
In the Mind Chat Christmas special, Keith and Philip take it in turns to interrogate each other about their favoured view of consciousness (illusionism and panpsychism, respectively), based in part
Sean Carroll: Is Consciousness Emergent?
15 Nov 2021
Theoretical physicist Sean Carroll joins us to discuss whether it make sense to think of consciousness as an emergent phenomenon, and whether contemporary physics points in this direction. We
Anil Seth: Is Consciousness a Controlled Hallucination?
13 Oct 2021
Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. In this episode we discuss his new book 'Being You: The New Science of Consciousness.'
Helen Yetter-Chappell: Is Reality Made up of Consciousness?
11 Oct 2021
Dr Helen Yetter-Chappell is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at University of Miami. Idealism is the view that the fundamental nature of reality is made up of mentality or consciousness. Inspired by
Matthias Michel: Is a Science of Consciousness Possible?
15 Aug 2021
Matthias Michel is a philosopher whose work focuses on the science of consciousness. In a recent paper he outlines how scientists working on consciousness have been having the same debates for 150
Christof Koch: The Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness
20 Jul 2021
Christof Koch is a neuroscientist and proponent of the integrated information theory of consciousness, or 'IIT". In this episode we explore with Christof the science and philosophy of IIT.
Janet Levin: The Materialist Theory of Consciousness
3 Jun 2021
Professor Janet Levin is a materialist about consciousness. She thinks our feelings and experiences are identical with physical processes in the brain. In this episode we will explore Janet's
Tim O'Connor: Interview with a Dualist
22 May 2021
Tim O'Connor is a dualist: someone who thinks consciousness is not physical. People tend to think of dualists as believing in the soul, a supernatural entity distinct from the physical workings of