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Mind-Body Philosophy

Series: Great Courses

4.4

(74)

Episodes

Rating

TVPG

Year

2017

Language

English

Publisher

The Great Courses

About

How is it that our very physical brain creates the very subjective experience we call reality? That is the mind-body problem. In Mind-Body Philosophy, award-winning Professor Patrick Grim of SUNY Stony Brook leads an exhilarating tour through millennia of philosophy and science addressing one of life's greatest conundrums: What is consciousness and how does it arise?

Related Subjects

Episodes

1. Mind, Body, and Questions of Consciousness

30m

The 3.5 pounds of gray matter in your skull processes all the information you need to live and thrive - from the functioning of your physical body to your relationships with loved ones. But how can the physical matter of the brain create the subjective experience of your life? That is the mind-body problem.

2. Mind and Body in Greek Philosophy

30m

Humans have been asking this question for thousands of years: exactly how are we related to the world around us? Learn what modern Western thought inherited from the Greeks and how the theories of Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle still affect our thinking and questioning today.

3. Eastern Perspectives on Mind and Body

30m

Western philosophers want to understand how the physical brain produces the reality of subjective experience. But Hindu and Buddhist traditions don't recognize that same dualism. Unlike the Western attempt to discover the truth of how things are, Eastern philosophy takes a more practical line of inquiry, examining how to best live.

4. Using the Body to Shape the Mind

30m

We tend to think of the mind being in charge of, and giving instructions to, the body. But is it possible for the body to direct the mind? Learn how the Eastern practical disciplines of yoga and meditation and Western habits of physical exercise can affect the brain and the mind.

5. History of the Soul

30m

While the concept of the soul has been of great philosophical importance over the millennia, it is not addressed by contemporary brain science or philosophy of the mind. Learn why William James encouraged people to believe in the soul if they wanted to, but "exiled" the subject from the concerns of modern psychology.

6. How Descartes Divided Mental from Physical

30m

How can you know with absolute certainty that you exist? Rene Descartes famously answered: "I think; therefore I am." He also suggested a complete split between the mind and the physical body. The vast and sharply divided responses to Descartes' dualism still influence the ways in which we address the mind-body problem today.

7. Mistakes about Our Own Consciousness

30m

One thing we know we can count on is the validity of our everyday experiences. After all, we know what we see, hear, feel, and think on a daily basis, right? You'll be surprised to learn how wrong we can be even about the realm of experience itself and our own everyday consciousness.

8. Strange Cases of Consciousness

30m

The study of individuals with unusual brains - e.g., those with split brains, color-blindness, face-blindness, synesthesia - has revealed brain modularity, differentiation, blending, and other mechanisms of consciousness. Do we really see with our eyes? Learn how the brain's organization affects even our most basic perception of the world around us.

9. Altered States of Consciousness

30m

Learn what dreams, lucid dreams, hallucinations, and other altered states teach us about brain structure and function. Why do so many hallucinations include the same geometric shapes? And after thousands of years of inquiry, do we finally understand the purpose of our dreams? Do dreams help us remember - or forget?

10. Memory, Mind, and Brain

30m

Philosopher John Locke suggested it is your continuous sequence of memories that allows you to be "you." But what is memory and how is it related to our emotions and dreams? Learn about the many different ways in which the brain stores the information we later retrieve and experience as memory.

Extended Details

SeriesGreat Courses

Closed CaptionsEnglish

Artists

The Great CoursesDirector

The Great CoursesProducer

Patrick GrimActor

Similar Artists

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