Philosophy
video
Philosophy of mind
Do we have good reasons to believe in beliefs? A radical philosophy of mind says no
5 minutes
video
Philosophy of mind
We may never settle the ‘free will’ debate, but tapping into it is still worthwhile
32 minutes
video
Philosophy of mind
An enigmatic ‘story of consciousness’ told through 19th-century engravings
7 minutes
essay
Philosophy of mind
Super-cooperators
Clear and direct telepathic communication is unlikely to be developed. But brain-to-brain links still hold great promise
Gary Lupyan & Andy Clark
essay
Philosophy of mind
Philosophy’s blindspot
Education has long been ignored by contemporary philosophers. That is a myopic view that must change
David Bakhurst
essay
Consciousness and altered states
Seeing and somethingness
An evolutionary approach to consciousness can resolve the ‘hard problem’ – with radical implications for animal sentience
Nicholas Humphrey
essay
Neuroscience
The turbulent brain
Energy flow between brain and environment drives the non-equilibrium that sustains life. Could turbulence help us thrive?
Morten L Kringelbach & Gustavo Deco
essay
Philosophy of mind
The philosopher’s zombie
The infamous thought experiment, flawed as it is, does demonstrate one thing: physics alone can’t explain consciousness
Dan Falk
video
Philosophy of mind
Embodied cognition seems intuitive, but philosophy can push it to some strange places
14 minutes
essay
Knowledge
How do you know?
Correct information doesn’t always come with its own bright halo of truth. What makes something worth believing?
Nate Sheff
essay
Human evolution
Homo imaginatus
Imagination isn’t just a spillover from our problem-solving prowess. It might be the core of what human brains evolved to do
Philip Ball
video
Philosophy of mind
Forget babbling and toddling – mindreading is babies’ most incredible skill
7 minutes
essay
Cognition and intelligence
A theory of my own mind
Knowing the content of one’s own mind might seem straightforward but in fact it’s much more like mindreading other people
Stephen M Fleming
video
Philosophy of mind
Caring for the vulnerable opens gateways to our richest, deepest brain states
7 minutes
essay
Evolution
What animals think of death
Having a concept of death, far from being a uniquely human feat, is a fairly common trait in the animal kingdom
Susana Monsó
essay
Philosophy of mind
The mind does not exist
The terms ‘mind’ and ‘mental’ are messy, harmful and distracting. We should get rid of them
Joe Gough
essay
Philosophy of mind
You are a network
You cannot be reduced to a body, a mind or a particular social role. An emerging theory of selfhood gets this complexity
Kathleen Wallace
essay
Animals and humans
The joy of being animal
Human exceptionalism is dead: for the sake of our own happiness and the planet we should embrace our true animal nature
Melanie Challenger
essay
Neuroscience
Myth and the mind
Saturated with rites and symbols, psychology feeds a deep human need once nourished by mythology
Rami Gabriel
essay
Philosophy of mind
The problem of now
The injunction to immerse yourself in the present might be psychologically potent, but is it metaphysically meaningful?
John Martin Fischer
essay
Thinkers and theories
The body as mediator
The phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty entwines us, via our own beating, pulsing, living bodies, in the lives of others
Dan Nixon
essay
Neuroscience
How close is too close?
The neuroscience of peripersonal space explores how you create, defend or relax the buffer zone between you and the world
Frédérique de Vignemont & Colin Klein
essay
Cognition and intelligence
On the same wavelength
The urge to align our minds and emotions with those we care for, whether they are near or far, makes our species unique
Hayden Kee
essay
Philosophy of mind
The value of uncertainty
In fiction, it grips us. In life, it can unravel us. How can brains hooked on certainty put its opposite to good use?
Mark Miller, Kathryn Nave, George Deane & Andy Clark