On this episode of Mind Matters News, host Dr. Michael Egnor speaks with Dr. Angus Menuge to discuss the mind-brain problem and his work on the recent volume exploring this topic, Minding the Brain. Egnor and Menuge explore various perspectives on the relationship between the mental and the physical. They cover the problems with materialist and physicalist views, which seek Read More ›
On this episode of Mind Matters News, guest host Pat Flynn concludes a conversation with Dr. Winston Ewert about his contribution to the recent volume Minding the Brain. This segment explores the implications of the view that human cognition can be reduced to a sophisticated algorithm, as Ewert argues. Ewert contends that an algorithm can only construct an algorithm less sophisticated than Read More ›
On this episode of Mind Matters News, guest host Pat Flynn begins a conversation with Dr. Winston Ewert about Ewert’s chapter in the recent volume Minding the Brain. In his contribution, titled “The Human Mind’s Sophisticated Algorithm and Its Implications,” Dr. Ewert argues that the human mind’s problem-solving cognition can be modeled as a sophisticated algorithm. Ewert explains that any cognitive task Read More ›
Many proponents of artificial intelligence operate from an assumption that our own minds and conscious experience can be solely attributed to our physical brains. But is this assumption true? This question is the key focus of the book Minding the Brain, edited by our guests: Angus Menuge, Brian Krouse, and Robert J. Marks. Joining them to discuss this volume is today’s Read More ›
Is the mind the same thing as the brain? Recently, we’ve been tackling this question known as the mind-brain problem with several of the contributing authors to our recent book Minding the Brain. In a similar fashion, we can also ask if there’s more to the human person than just our bodies. This week we have neurosurgeon Michael Egnor talking about Read More ›
On this episode, host Dr. Robert J. Marks continues his chat with Dr. Mihretu Guta about exploring the philosophical challenges surrounding the neuroscientific research on mirror neurons. What the heck is a mirror neuron you ask? As described in Part 1, it’s a type of brain cell that fires when a person observes an action being performed, as well as Read More ›
For the last several months, we’ve been interviewing authors featured in the recent Bradley Center volume Minding the Brain: Models of the Mind, Information, and Empirical Science. The book delves into the age-old question: is the mind more than the brain? What was once solely a philosophical and metaphysical discussion has attracted the attention of science and is a much more Read More ›
On this episode, host Pat Flynn continues a three-part conversation with Dr. Selmer Bringsjord about all things related to AI, consciousness, and rationality. In Part 2, the discussion turns to Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and its claims about consciousness. IIT proposes that consciousness arises from the degree of informational integration in a system, so more integrated systems would have higher Read More ›
Is your mind the same thing as your brain? Or are there aspects of mind that are external to the biology of the brain? This is the mind-body problem, and it has captivated curious minds since the dawn of human contemplation. Today many insist that the mind is completely reducible to the brain. But is that claim justified? On this Read More ›
In this episode, Pat Flynn and Dr. Michael Egnor continue their discussion of Dr. Egnor’s contribution to the recent volume Minding the Brain. Flynn and Egnor discuss various criticisms of materialism in neuroscience. They touch on topics such as near-death experiences, the limitations of the computational theory of mind, and the nature of artificial intelligence. Dr. Egnor also addresses common questions Read More ›
On this episode, host Pat Flynn begins a wide-ranging conversation with Dr. Michael Egnor about topics such as mind, brain, dualism, the nature of the human person, neuroscience, and the soul. Dr. Egnor argues for dualism, stating that there are aspects of the mind that are not generated by the brain. They also discuss research on split-brain patients and its Read More ›
In this episode, Dr. Eric Jones, a professor of psychology at Regent University, concludes his discussion of the concept of the relational person and its implications for psychology. He explains that the traditional materialistic and atomistic view of the individual is insufficient to explain social thought and behavior. Instead, he argues for a relational model that emphasizes the interconnectedness of Read More ›
On this episode, host Dr. Michael Egnor continues his conversation with Dr. Bruce Gordon about a chapter he wrote in the recent volume Minding the Brain titled “Mind Over Matter: Idealism Ascendant.” In Part 2 of the conversation, Dr. Gordon reviews the strengths and weaknesses of dualism and its relationship to idealism. Different categories of dualism are evaluated, as well as challenges and Read More ›
On this episode, host Dr. Michael Egnor begins a conversation with Dr. Bruce Gordon about a chapter he wrote in the recent volume Minding the Brain titled “Mind Over Matter: Idealism Ascendant.” Dr. Gordon makes a case for idealism, a philosophy of mind positing that all of reality is, in some sense, mental. Egnor and Gordon discuss the plausibility of idealism Read More ›
If mathematical objects are immaterial, does that mean aspects of human beings are too? On this episode, host Pat Flynn concludes his three-part discussion with Dr. Selmer Bringsjord about his provocative chapter in the recent volume Minding the Brain titled “Mathematical Objects are Non-Physical, so we are too.” They summarize the argument that formal thinking is non-physical and extend this reasoning to Read More ›
On this episode, host Pat Flynn continues his conversation with Dr. Selmer Bringsjord about his chapter in the recent volume Minding the Brain, titled “Mathematical Objects Are Non-Physical, so We Are Too.” The discussion focuses on the first part of the argument, which asserts that mathematical objects are non-physical. Bringsjord explains that formal thinking, such as understanding algorithms, cannot be fully determined Read More ›
On this episode, host Pat Flynn is joined by Dr. Selmer Bringsjord, author of a fascinating and provocative chapter in the recent volume Minding the Brain. Dr. Bringsjord argues for the immateriality of mathematical objects as well as the immateriality of the human person. The argument challenges physicalism and raises questions about the nature of consciousness and the human person. The Read More ›
In this episode, hosts Angus Menuge and Robert J. Marks conclude their three-part discussion with Dr. Robert Larmer about his chapter on methodological naturalism in the recent volume Minding the Brain. The trio argue that methodological naturalism is not the only viable approach in scientific inquiry and that it can be an obstruction to discovering the truth. They suggest that explanations Read More ›
Get caught up with the Mind Matters podcast by listening to this special episode featuring hosts Angus Menuge and Robert J. Marks and their guest, Dr. Robert Larmer. Dr. Larmer wrote a fascinating chapter in last year’s groundbreaking book Minding the Brain, and sat down with Mind Matters to discuss the limits of “methodological naturalism.” For Larmer, this approach to getting knowledge is limited because it rules out non-physical causes, even if they exist. In addition, holding to naturalism at all costs can undermine our self-understanding as rational agents. How can we trust our brains? Does the physical activity in our brains correlate with non-physical mental states? Find out more by listening to Part One of the conversation here. Be Read More ›
In this episode, host Angus Menuge continues a discussion with Dr. Robert Larmer about his chapter on methodological naturalism in the recent volume Minding the Brain. In this segment of the conversation, Menuge and Larmer examine the justifications for methodological naturalism and critique some of the common arguments. They discuss the claim that non-natural causes are unknowable by scientific inquiry and Read More ›