Alle afleveringen
300 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Noam Chomsky on Intellectual History and Reflections (Part 1)
14 december 2022 · 28 min
Closer To Truth is proud to present this four-part miniseries with distinguished theoretical linguist, analytic philosopher, cognitive scientist, political critic, and social activist Professor Noam Chomsky. Lees meer
In Part 1, we speak with Chomsky about his initial interest in theoretical linguistics, transformational and universal grammar, his early published works, and his reflections on his discussions and debates with other eminent philosophers.
Often referred to as "the father of modern linguistics”, Chomsky helped bring about the cognitive revolution in the human sciences. At 94, he is one of the most cited living scholars. He is Institute Professor Emeritus at MIT and Laureate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona.
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Sir Roger Penrose on Consciousness and New Physics
7 december 2022 · 35 min
Sir Roger Penrose joins Closer To Truth to discuss consciousness and new physics. Can the known laws of physics explain consciousness? Can the mind be duplicated by a computer? What is the argument against Strong A.I.? What is consciousness and how does it relate to Penrose's Search for a Missing Science of Consciousness? And what are the implications of a New Science of Consciousness for the Three-World Model of Physical, Mental, and Platonic? Lees meer
See more interviews with Sir Roger Penrose: https://bit.ly/3UvbYkw
Sir Roger Penrose is a mathematical physicist and philosopher. He is the Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute of the University of Oxford, as well as an Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College. He is a Nobel laureate for “the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity”.
Register for free at closertotruth.com for subscriber-only exclusives: http://bit.ly/2GXmFsP
Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and produced and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.
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Sir Roger Penrose on Spacetime, Quantum Mechanics, and General Relativity
7 december 2022 · 1 uur 54 min
Sir Roger Penrose talks about the work that earned him a Nobel prize in physics, developing mathematics to analyze spacetime, his 1965 paper "Gravitational Collapse and Space-Time Singularities", Cosmic Censorship Hypothesis, Conformal Cyclic Cosmology, and his thoughts on Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity. Lees meer
See more interviews with Sir Roger Penrose: https://bit.ly/3UvbYkw
Sir Roger Penrose is a mathematical physicist and philosopher. He is the Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute of the University of Oxford, as well as an Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College. He is a Nobel laureate for “the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity”.
Register for free at closertotruth.com for subscriber-only exclusives: http://bit.ly/2GXmFsP
Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and produced and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.
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Sir Roger Penrose on Mathematics and World Reflections
7 december 2022 · 32 min
Sir Roger Penrose shares his thoughts on mathematics and world reflections. He discusses his “three worlds and three deep mysteries” theory, pure mathematics, the “Impossible Penrose Triangle”, M.C. Escher, Penrose tiling, astrophysics, and consciousness. Lees meer
See more interviews with Sir Roger Penrose: https://bit.ly/3UvbYkw
Sir Roger Penrose is a mathematical physicist and philosopher. He is the Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute of the University of Oxford, as well as an Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College. He is a Nobel laureate for “the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity”.
Register for free at closertotruth.com for subscriber-only exclusives: http://bit.ly/2GXmFsP
Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and produced and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.
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What's Beyond Physics?
12 mei 2021 · 27 min
COSMOS - Are there revolutionary discoveries yet to be made? Radical revelations and shocking secrets? Does physical reality go beyond what we know today? Far beyond? Lees meer
Featuring Lawrence Krauss, Michio Kaku, Rupert Sheldrake, Paul Davies, and David Chalmers.
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Can the Brain Explain Art?
5 mei 2021 · 27 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - What is happening in our brains when we perceive and appreciate the arts? What are the neural substrates of artistic sensations, feelings and emotions? How do diverse arts affect the brain?
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What is Philosophy of Art?
28 april 2021 · 27 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - What is the nature of art? What makes something “art”, and why should we value it? What is aesthetics and art theory? Can philosophy of art enhance appreciation and practice of the arts?
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Can Metaphysics Discover Surprises?
21 april 2021 · 27 min
COSMOS - How does metaphysics contribute to our understanding of the world? It asks the most profound questions: What kinds of things exist? How does causality work? Sound too abstract? How about: Does God exist? Are you a soul? Lees meer
Featuring Michio Kaku, Bede Rundle, John Leslie, Richard Swinburne, and Hubert Dreyfus.
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The Mystery of Existence
14 april 2021 · 26 min
COSMOS - Call all-that-exists “something.” Why is there “something” rather than “nothing”? The question haunts me. Why is there anything at all? Lees meer
Featuring Colin McGinn, Peter van Inwagen, Philip Clayton, George Lakoff, and Dean Zimmerman.
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Can Art Clarify the Mind-Body Problem?
7 april 2021 · 27 min
CONCIOUSNESS - Can art inform the classic mind-body problem? While the relationship between mental activity and physical brain continues to baffle (especially consciousness), can the existence and process of art provide insight?
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Does Information Create the Cosmos?
31 maart 2021 · 27 min
COSMOS - Of what is reality made? What are the most basic building blocks from which the cosmos is constructed? Particles? Mass-Energy? Forces? Fields? A new candidate is ‘Information’—‘IT from BIT’. Lees meer
Featuring Seth Lloyd, Sean Carroll, Raphael Bousso, Alan Guth, and Christof Koch.
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Big Questions in Free Will (Part 1)
24 maart 2021 · 27 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - What is free will? Do we have free will? The ‘Big Questions in Free Will’ project tackles these issues in a multi-year study. In Part I, scientists and philosophers research, test, and advance thinking on free will. Lees meer
Featuring Alfred Mele, Galen Strawson, John Searle, Peter van Inwagen, Christof Koch, Uri Maoz, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Thalia Wheatley, and Peter Tse.
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What Exists? (Part 2)
17 maart 2021 · 27 min
COSMOS - What’s the ultimate stuff of reality? What’s absolutely fundamental and non-reducible — the fewest number of categories within which every specific thing, of every general kind, can be classified? Lees meer
Featuring Barry Loewer, David Albert, Luke Barnes, Raymond Tallis, and George Ellis.
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Can the Cosmos Have a Reason?
10 maart 2021 · 27 min
COSMOS - Perhaps we cannot know the reason for the universe, if there is any. But is it even possible for the universe to have a reason? If yes, how would natural regularities and rules compare with some kind of goal or God? Lees meer
Featuring Alexander Vilenkin, John Polkinghorne, Michael Shermer, Stephen Wolfram, and Stuart Kauffman.
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Can Brain Explain Mind?
3 maart 2021 · 27 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - What is it about the brain that enables some scientists to claim they can explain mind? And what is it about scientific explanations that some philosophers reject? Lees meer
Featuring Christof Koch, Rodolfo Llinas, Raymond Kurzweil, John Searle, and David Chalmers.
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Where are All Those Aliens?
24 februari 2021 · 27 min
COSMOS - Most scientists assume that the universe must be populated with innumerable alien intelligences and civilizations—after all, we humans can't be so special. OK, so where are they, these "innumerable alien intelligences and civilizations"? How come there's zero evidence? Lees meer
Featuring Jill Tarter, Douglas Vakoch, Frank Drake, Raymond Kurzweil, Francisco Ayala, Steven Dick, and David Brin.
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Big Questions in Free Will (Part 2)
30 december 2020 · 27 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - What is free will? Do we have free will? The ‘Big Questions in Free Will’ project tackles these issues in a multi-year study. In Part I, scientists and philosophers research, test, and advance thinking on free will. Lees meer
Featuring Bertram Malle, Eddy Nahmias, Roy Baumeister, Patrick Haggard, Adina Roskies, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, and Alfred Mele.
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What is the Mind-Body Problem?
11 december 2020 · 27 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - How is it possible that mushy masses of brain cells, passing chemicals and shooting sparks literally are mental sensations and subjective feelings? They seem so radically different. Lees meer
Featuring John Searle, Ned Block, J.P. Moreland, Marvin Minsky, and Colin McGinn.
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Why a Fine-Tuned Universe?
9 december 2020 · 27 min
COSMOS - How can so many numbers of nature, the constants and relationships of physics, be so spot-on perfect for humans to exist? Beware: there is more than one answer lurking here. Lees meer
Featuring John Leslie, Steven Weinberg, David Gross, John Polkinghorne, Robin Collins, and Paul Davies.
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Why is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
2 december 2020 · 27 min
COSMOS - Forget science. Forget God. This is the ultimate question: What if Everything had Forever been Nothing? Not just emptiness, not just blankness, but not even the existence of emptiness, not even the meaning of blankness, and no Forever. If you don't get dizzy, you really don't get it. Lees meer
Featuring John Leslie, Peter van Inwagen, Bede Rundle, Quentin Smith, Richard Swinburne and Steven Weinberg.
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How Could God Interact with the World?
25 november 2020 · 27 min
MEANING - If God exists, and if God ordains history and generates miracles, how does He do it? Fiddle with each and every atom? Command all of them en masse? What possibly could be God's technique? Lees meer
Featuring Robert Russell, John Polkinghorne, Paul Davies, Alvin Plantinga and Ernan McMullin.
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Toward a Science of Consciousness
18 november 2020 · 27 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - Why do we have inner awareness? Why does it ‘feel like something’ inside to see, hear, taste, think? It’s called ‘consciousness’ and it seems mysterious—but can science explain it? We talk to experts at the 20th biennial conference, “Toward a Science of Consciousness.” Lees meer
Featuring Stuart Hameroff, David Chalmers, Daniel Dennett, Deepak Chopra, Susan Blackmore and Rebecca Goldstein.
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Did Our Universe Have a Beginning?
11 november 2020 · 26 min
COSMOS - Everything in the universe has a beginning, but how can the universe as a whole have a start date? Does a universal commencement make sense? What would it possibly mean? Lees meer
Featuring Martin Rees, Wendy Freedman, Alan Guth, George Smoot and Alexander Vilenkin.
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Arguing God from Design
4 november 2020 · 26 min
MEANING - The world certainly appears to be designed. Are appearances deceiving? Discover new twists to this old argument. Lees meer
Featuring Richard Swinburne, Bede Rundle, Steven Weinberg, William Dembski, Francisco Ayala, Michael Shermer, and Freeman Dyson.
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What are Dreams About?
28 oktober 2020 · 27 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - Throughout history, dreams have fascinated and mystified. Messages from God? Images of the subconscious? Much about dreams is myth. What‘s real? Lees meer
Featuring Robert Stickgold, Deirdre Barrett, Christopher Isham, and Patrick McNamara.
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Did God Create Time?
21 oktober 2020 · 27 min
MEANING - God and Time are two huge mysteries; relating them probes the nature of God, and perhaps even the existence of a Creator. If God is in Time and experiences its passage, then how could God have created Time? Also Leibniz's famous question: "Why didn't God create the world sooner?" Lees meer
Featuring Brian Leftow, John Polkinghorne, Ernan McMullin, William Craig, Varadaraja Raman, and Robert Russell.
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Could Our Universe Be a Fake?
14 oktober 2020 · 27 min
COSMOS - Perhaps our entire universe is like a gigantic computer game, the creation of super-smart hackers existing somewhere else? Before you smirk and laugh, watch and think! Lees meer
Featuring David Brin, Nick Bostrom, Raymond Kurzweil, Marvin Minsky, and Martin Rees.
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Do Persons Have Souls?
7 oktober 2020 · 27 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - Is the "Real You" a special substance that is both nonphysical and immortal? Most people think "Certainly." Most scientists think "Certainly Not." What some theologians think may trouble you. Lees meer
Featuring J.P. Moreland, Nancey Murphy, Daniel Dennett, Peter van Inwagen, and Huston Smith.
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Why is There Anything at All? (Part 2)
30 september 2020 · 27 min
COSMOS - It’s the ultimate puzzle. It’s the haunting question. Why is there “something” rather than “nothing”? It seems impenetrable, uncrackable, unfathomable. But are there ways? Lees meer
Featuring Tim Maudlin, Mario Livio, George Ellis, and David Bentley Hart.
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Arguing God's Existence
23 september 2020 · 27 min
MEANING - You've heard the raucous noise about God; now listen to the cogent arguments, con and pro. Not that determining the existence of God is up for vote; when searching for Truth, majority opinion counts for nothing. Lees meer
Featuring Keith Ward, Owen Gingerich, William Craig, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Alvin Plantinga, and Steven Weinberg.
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Is Consciousness an Illusion?
16 september 2020 · 27 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - Is consciousness something special in the universe, a carrier of meaning and purpose? Or is consciousness a mere artifact of the brain, a by-product of evolution? I hope consciousness is special, which is why I must be a skeptic. Lees meer
Featuring Nicholas Humphrey, Julian Baggini, Rebecca Goldstein, Galen Strawson, Anthony Grayling, and Raymond Tallis.
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Is the Universe Fine-Tuned for Life and Mind?
9 september 2020 · 27 min
COSMOS - If the universe had been ever so slightly different, human beings wouldn't, couldn't, exist. All explanations of this exquisite fine-tuning, obvious and not-so-obvious, have problems. Lees meer
Featuring Martin Rees, Leonard Susskind, Alexander Vilenkin, Russell Stannard, Stephen Wolfram, and Roger Penrose.
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Can Design Point to God?
3 september 2020 · 27 min
MEANING - To argue for God, the easy way appears to be ‘design’, the obvious order and apparent purpose of the world. How could all of this be if there were no God? Quite easily, says science. What’s the deep thinking on both sides? Lees meer
Featuring Owen Gingerich, Ernan McMullin, Colin McGinn, and Paul Davies.
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Are Brain and Mind the Same Thing?
26 augustus 2020 · 27 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - If mind and brain are the same thing, then the physical world is likely all that exists. But if mind and brain are not the same thing, then what? Could reality go beyond the physical? Lees meer
Featuring David Eagleman, Nicholas Humphrey, Richard Swinburne, Raymond Tallis, and Robert Stickgold.
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How Does Beauty Color the Cosmos?
19 augustus 2020 · 27 min
COSMOS - What do scientists mean when they call the laws and regularities of nature "beautiful"? On the largest supra-cosmic scales, and on the smallest sub-atomic scales, why do scientists use "beauty" to assess their theories? Lees meer
Featuring Peter Atkins, Roger Penrose, Stephon Alexander, Fotini Markopoulou, Frank Wilczek, and Freeman Dyson.
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Does God Make Sense?
12 augustus 2020 · 26 min
MEANING - How can you know whether God really exists, if you do not know what God really is? Diverse religions have diverse views and surprise is in store. Lees meer
Featuring Richard Swinburne, Alvin Plantinga, Daniel Dennett, Seyyed Nasr, Varadaraja Raman, Huston Smith, and Michael Shermer.
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Why is Consciousness so Mysterious?
5 augustus 2020 · 26 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - How can the mindless microscopic particles that compose our brains "experience" the setting sun, the Mozart Requiem, and romantic love? Lees meer
Featuring Venerable Dr. Yifa, Susan Blackmore, Keith Ward, Daniel Dennett, David Chalmers, John Searle, and Colin McGinn.
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Is This the End Time?
26 juli 2020 · 27 min
MEANING - In every generation, some religious believers imagined their time to be the end time. Why is this so? Is our generation different? What, in a religious nutshell, is the End Time? Lees meer
Featuring James Tabor, Robert Saucy, Nancey Murphy, Arthur Hyman, and Gregory Boyd.
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How do Brains Work?
22 juli 2020 · 27 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - Everything we know, everything we think, comes from our brain. Are brains our window to reality, seeing what truly exists? Or are we bound by brains, mental slaves of the meat in our heads? Lees meer
Featuring Christopher Evans, Kelsey Martin, Robert Bilder, Jared Diamond, and Rodney Brooks.
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Can Science Deal With God?
17 juli 2020 · 27 min
COSMOS - Science can deal with God in at least three ways: Showing how God is not necessary; showing how God is likely; not relating to God at all. Only one way can be correct. Lees meer
Featuring Lawrence Krauss, Francis Collins, Robert Russell, Ian Barbour, Freeman Dyson, and Michio Kaku.
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Arguing God From Morality
1 juli 2020 · 27 min
MEANING - Humans have a sense of right and wrong. Does this mean that morality is absolute? And if absolute, would God be needed to make it so? Even theologians are perplexed by God & Morality; some even admit it. Lees meer
Featuring J.P. Moreland, Richard Swinburne, Francis S. Collins, Michael Tooley, and Michael Shermer.
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Confronting Consciousness
24 juni 2020 · 27 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - Consciousness is what mental activity feels like, the private inner experience of sensation, thought, and emotion. Consciousness is like nothing else. Lees meer
Featuring David Eagleman, Warren Brown, Keith Ward, Christof Koch, and Tim Bayne.
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What Things Really Exist?
17 juni 2020 · 27 min
COSMOS - When you ask "what things really exist", and you think deeply about this universal probe, you see the whole world anew. It's such a simple question; how does it inspire such profound insight? Lees meer
Featuring Roger Penrose, Peter van Inwagen, John Searle, William Lane Craig, and John Leslie.
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How Can God Not be Free?
10 juni 2020 · 27 min
MEANING - Does God have real choices? Or is God bound tightly by God’s own nature? Can God do absolutely everything? Can God be ‘brave’? Can God ‘improve’? For God to be God, how can God be constrained all? Lees meer
Featuring Michael Almeida, Hugh McCann, Matthews Grant, and David Hunt.
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How Are Brains Structured?
3 juni 2020 · 26 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - As far as we know, brains are the most highly organized matter in the universe. How they make their magic is just astonishing. Lees meer
Featuring Arnold B. Scheibel, Carmine D. Clemente, John D. Schlag, Christof Koch, Mike Merzenich, and Rodolfo R. Llinas.
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How Vast is the Cosmos?
27 mei 2020 · 26 min
COSMOS - Everyone knows that the universe is huge, but no one could have imagined how staggeringly immense the universe, or multiple universes, may actually be. It stops your breath. Lees meer
Featuring Martin Rees, Max Tegmark, Alan H. Guth, Andrei Linde, and Paul Davies.
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Arguing God From First Cause
20 mei 2020 · 27 min
MEANING - Does everything need a cause? Everything in the universe surely does. But what about the universe as a whole? And what about God—assuming God exists—does God need a cause? Lees meer
Featuring William Lane Craig, Quentin Smith, Alister McGrath, David Shatz, Charles L. Harper Jr., and Peter van Inwagen.
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What is Truth?
13 mei 2020 · 27 min
CONSCIOUSNESS - Everyone wants to know ‘Truth’. But what is Truth? People argue about Truth; people fight about Truth—consider politics and religion. But what is the basic meaning of Truth itself? Lees meer
Featuring Simon Blackburn, Raymond Tallis, John Hawthorne, John Hick, and Michael Shermer.
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Can the Brain Explain Art?
9 maart 2020 · 27 min
CONSCIOUSNESS — What is happening in our brains when we perceive and appreciate the arts? What are the neural substrates of artistic sensations, feelings, and emotions? How do diverse arts affect the brain?
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Why Anything at All? (Part 2)
9 maart 2020 · 27 min
COSMOS — It’s the ultimate puzzle. It’s the haunting question. Why is there “something” rather than “nothing”? It seems impenetrable, uncrackable, unfathomable. But are there ways?