What, Why & How do we Know ?
A Summary of Iain McGilchrist “The Matter With Things” My writings on Iain McGilchrist’s TMWT, and TME (The Master and Emissary) before it, are many, but unfortunately that means that no single post, since my reading of TMWT, gives any introductory overview for a new reader. So here goes: What is the matter with things? … Continue reading “What is the Matter with Things?”
Mentioned earlier collecting previous links in preparation for receiving Iain McGilchrist’s latest, well here it is: Iain McGilchrist The Matter With Things – Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World Volume I – The Ways to Truth Introduction Part 1 – Chapters 1 to 9 plus Coda The Hemispheres and the Means … Continue reading “There We Have It”
I’m reading Adam Zeman’s “A Portrait of the Brain” (2008). I’ve previously read his “Consciousness: A Users Guide” (2002) after seeing him give a talk in Cambridge in 2003. He’s become short-hand for me as the “Z” in from Austin to Zeman in listing all the various neuroscientists who have investigated “abnormal” behaviours in real … Continue reading “The Architecture of the Brain”
Busy, Busy, Busy. Mentioned strange times regarding work-load and productivity a few posts ago; my pipeline stuffed with unread bookmarks and unresolved references, and a to-do-list with at least seven dimensions of priorities to juggle, personally and professionally. Not exactly “treading water”, but difficult to discern progress going anywhere. Ironic that the immediately previous Wittgensteinian … Continue reading “A remarkable book. It changes everything.”
Rounding up my reading of Michael Gazzaniga, his 2015 “Tales From Both Sides of the Brain – A Life In Neuroscience.” in particular, though having completed and enjoyed it I went back to his “Who’s In Charge” for a second go. Previously, newest first: Baloney Generator #2 ?” Gazzaniga’s Most Stunning Result. Tales From Both … Continue reading “Who’s In Charge?”
Mentioned last month I was planning to read some Michael Gazzaniga, but struggling to decide where to start. Rather than his latest, I obtained second-hand two earlier works: 2015 — “Tales from Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience” 2011 — “Who’s in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain” I … Continue reading “Tales from Both Sides”
A running theme throughout Psybertron is the reality of conscious mind and its consequences in the real world. That’s partly because explantory understanding of our understanding and of our decision-making is my main research focus and partly because – probably not coincidentally – it’s also a prime (but not the only) example where politicised scientific dogma … Continue reading “Altered States of Consciousness”
Listening to Simon Blackburn last night at Conway Hall, indeed mulling over the title of his talk before listening to him, it is transparently obvious that he has an important agenda when it comes to his close association with humanism and the BHA. Now Blackburn is probably “the” greatest living British philosopher active and teaching … Continue reading “Simon Blackburn’s Message on Virtues for Humanists”