Iain McGilchrist is an Oxford literary scholar, and a doctor in psychiatry and neuroscience. A champion of holistic thinking, Iain’s tour-de-force book The Master and His Emissary, along with his more recent The Matter with Things, have transformed academic and popular understanding not only of the human brain, but also of the importance of a fundamental worldview shift. His works sustain an in-depth critique of reductionism, and unfold different approaches for understanding who we are and what the world is.  

In this episode, Iain’s research on the differences between the left and right hemispheres provide the backdrop for discussions of the human experience of the sublime, and how important that experience is if we are to reestablish social and ecological balance in the world. He discusses his long-standing appreciation for the local, the place-based and the natural, suggesting that these offer avenues towards right-hemisphere aspects of our experience – aspects which have been neglected to our detriment.

To watch the video of this series, visit: Planet Local Voices interview series.

The music for this series is ‘Pines and Violet’, by Sky Toes.