reeducated

In this episode, I sit down with Georg Northoff to explore the complex relationship between the brain, consciousness, and the self. We start by questioning the assumption that neuroscience alone can fully explain who we are. Georg points out the limitations of reductionist approaches, showing why studying neurons and brain regions in isolation isn’t enough to answer fundamental questions about experience and identity.

Our conversation moves into the idea of the self not as a static object in the brain, but as something that emerges in relation to the body and the world. Georg explains how consciousness might be better understood through the connections between brain, environment, and time, rather than by searching for a single “location” of self. He draws on philosophy as much as neuroscience, stressing that the most important questions often lie between disciplines rather than within one.

Together, we reflect on what it means to be human when science cannot give a final answer to the question of existence. Is the self reducible to neurons firing in the brain? Or is it something that can only be grasped by looking at how life unfolds in context through relationships, history, and lived experience? This conversation invites us to rethink not just what consciousness is, but how we go about asking the question in the first place.

00:00 – Introduction: Welcoming Georg Northoff and his pioneering research in neurophilosophy
02:00 – Living across cultures: how context shapes consciousness and perception
05:00 – The difference in time perception between Eastern and Western thought
08:00 – How Northoff became fascinated with the brain–mind connection
11:00 – What the self is and why it matters for understanding consciousness
14:00 – Do animals have a sense of self? Insights from neuroscience and evolution
17:00 – The relational nature of self and its connection to well-being
21:00 – Where is the self located? From the heart to the space between us
25:00 – The relational self in Heidegger and Eastern philosophy
29:00 – Meditation, non-duality, and what neuroscience reveals about spiritual experience
33:00 – How training and neuroplasticity reshape the sense of self
37:00 – Can two different perceptions of reality both be true?
41:00 – Understanding mental disorders through the speed of the self
45:00 – Personalized therapy and the future of psychiatry
48:00 – Science, mysticism, and the beauty of connection
51:00 – What great science and great spirituality share
53:00 – Closing reflections: consciousness, culture, and the meaning of being

In this episode, I speak with Roger Crisp, Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Oxford, about the role of ethics in our personal lives and society. We start with a discussion of Aristotle’s ideas on human flourishing and compare them with utilitarian approaches that focus on maximizing happiness. Roger explains how different ethical traditions address the question of what it means to live well, and we explore whether it is possible or even desirable to measure happiness.

We also talk about the challenges of applying moral philosophy to real-world decisions, especially when theoretical ideals meet practical constraints. Roger shares examples of how moral reasoning can guide policy, personal choices, and our interactions with others. Along the way, we touch on topics such as virtue, moral motivation, and how philosophical thinking can help navigate life’s complex trade-offs.

This conversation offers an accessible look at how philosophy connects to everyday life, showing that moral theory isn’t just an academic exercise, it’s a tool for understanding ourselves and making better decisions in a complicated world.

00:00 – Introduction: Welcoming Roger Crisp and his work on ethics and well-being
02:00 – Early influences: Plato, Mill, and the origins of moral philosophy
07:00 – Discovering philosophy through classics and the problem of defining “the good”
11:00 – What is well-being? Understanding good for versus good in general
15:00 – The experiential view: Is pleasure all that matters for a good life?
19:00 – Accomplishment, meaning, and the limits of hedonism
23:00 – Why defining the good life matters for how we live
28:00 – Family, culture, and the tension between tradition and questioning
33:00 – Education, parenting, and who defines a “good life” for children
38:00 – Reflecting on philosophy’s impact on personal decision-making
42:00 – The ethics of self-interest and collective well-being
47:00 – Pain, suffering, and the art of finding pleasure in discomfort
52:00 – Buddhism, neuroscience, and the science of pleasure
57:00 – Higher versus lower pleasures and what truly brings happiness
1:01:00 – Education, policy, and the danger of quantifying happiness
1:05:00 – The paradox of hedonism and the importance of indirect joy
1:08:00 – Final reflections: Thinking about well-being as a lifelong practice

Season 9 Summarized: Art, Beauty, & Complexity.

In this episode, I talk with Aaron Meskin, a philosopher of aesthetics whose work spans comics, food, popular culture, and the philosophy of art. We begin by talking about architecture, cultural memory, and the feeling of living in spaces that carry historical weight. From there, we explore what it means to care about beauty in different domains, why some people care deeply about buildings or fashion, while others are drawn to beer, music, or television. Aaron suggests that aesthetics isn't limited to galleries or museums, it’s part of everyday life, and we all engage with it, whether through a shared concert experience or the design of our homes.

We dive deep into comics as an art form, what makes them unique, why it's difficult (and maybe unnecessary) to define them, and how their hybrid structure of text and image creates new forms of narrative and expression. Aaron reflects on how comics offer intimacy, especially when created by a single artist, and why they deserve more philosophical attention. We also touch on food and drink as potential art forms, considering when a cocktail or a carefully prepared dish becomes more than just consumption. Toward the end, we challenge the boundaries of art itself, asking whether conversation and podcasting could be considered artistic forms, and what criteria we use to make that judgment.

Throughout, we explore how aesthetics helps us pay attention, how it’s social, and how it enables new ways of connecting to each other and the world. Whether through a comic, a gourmet meal, or a walk through a 14th-century village, aesthetic experiences are all around us. Sometimes we just need to notice them.

00:00 – Introduction: Meeting Aaron Meskin and his work in aesthetics
02:00 – Cultural observations and reflections from England
05:00 – The continuity of culture and connection through art
07:00 – Why aesthetics matters and what beauty adds to life
10:00 – Aesthetic experience as communication and social connection
13:00 – How culture shapes what we find beautiful
16:00 – Expanding aesthetics: beer, opera, and the value of care
20:00 – Comics as philosophy: how Aaron’s interest began
23:00 – Defining comics and the difficulty of definitions
27:00 – How words and images work together in comics
31:00 – The intimacy of comics: handwriting, art, and narrative
35:00 – Why comics never replaced literature (and why that’s okay)
39:00 – The role of culture, economics, and attention in shaping art forms
42:00 – Everyday aesthetics and the philosophy of the ordinary
47:00 – When food becomes art and the beauty of sensory experience
51:00 – Conversations, creativity, and the question of what counts as art
56:00 – Technology, nostalgia, and the beauty of older forms
1:00:00 – Everyday rituals and aesthetic moments in daily life
1:04:00 – Why ordinary pleasures and aesthetic attention matter
1:07:00 – Closing reflections: the love of wisdom through beauty

In this episode, I sit down with Jonathan Gilmore professor of philosophy and co-editor of The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism to explore how we experience fiction, art, and museums in ways that often blur the line between imagination and reality. We talk about why fictional stories can feel so emotionally true, and what’s happening in the brain and mind when we respond to imagined worlds. Jonathan shares how the same brain structures light up whether we're imagining lying on a beach or actually experiencing it, and how that overlap plays a big role in why fiction feels real.

We also discuss how museums have changed from elite spaces to more open, accessible places and how their evolving roles influence how we see culture and ourselves. Jonathan reflects on his early visits to the Cleveland Museum of Art, and how that helped spark his path into art and philosophy. Our conversation dives into the question of how narratives—from romantic comedies to sports fandom shape our beliefs, expectations, and even personal values. We touch on the idea of "kitsch" in popular art, and how fiction can both reflect and distort our ideas of love, identity, and what it means to live a meaningful life.

By the end, we examine the limitations and possibilities of art both random and structured—and how a richer understanding of history, context, and intention might help us not just appreciate art more, but also see more clearly how it affects the way we think and live.

In this episode, I talk with Sherri Irvin, a philosopher whose work explores aesthetics, contemporary art, and embodiment. We begin by discussing her entry into the philosophy of art and how artists challenge traditional rules to express new forms of meaning. Sherri explains how rules are not just constraints, but frameworks for communication, and how breaking them intentionally can create powerful experiences. We talk about contemporary artworks that rely on shifting contexts and participation to define what the art even is, and how this flexibility leads to broader questions about authorship and artistic identity.

We then explore the aesthetics of the body how beauty standards are formed, how they change across cultures, and how they shape our perception of others and ourselves. Sherri discusses the link between attraction, social value, and institutional bias, touching on everything from disability and fatphobia to representation in media. Together, we reflect on how we’ve been socially conditioned to see some bodies as beautiful and others as less worthy of attention or care, and we ask what it would take to expand our ability to see beauty in a wider range of human experiences.

The conversation ends with thoughts on individuality, complexity, and the ways group identities shape how people are perceived and treated. We question whether it’s possible or even desirable to break down all categories, and what it would mean to live in a world where everyone’s uniqueness is fully acknowledged. This episode touches on art, identity, stigma, and the everyday politics of how we see and are seen.

00:00 – Who is Sherri Irvin and what does it mean to study the philosophy of art

02:00 – How she discovered contemporary art through real-world puzzles

06:00 – The nature of rules in art and how artists reshape meaning

22:00 – The artist’s role: fabrication versus context and collaboration

26:00 – Sherri’s reflections on identity and what it means to “be an artist”

30:00 – The aesthetics of the body: beauty, attraction, and social power

34:00 – The social hierarchy of attractiveness and its consequences

38:00 – Cultural beauty standards and how they evolve

54:00 – Complexity, individuality, and the challenge of empathy

58:00 – How open-mindedness affects belonging and connection

1:01:00 – Everyday interactions, compliments, and the ethics of recognition

1:03:00 – Closing reflections: valuing difference and reimagining beauty

In this episode, I sat down again with David Goldblatt, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, to talk about how philosophy moves from theory to practice and why that movement often doesn't happen. We reflected on how routine and academic settings can limit our thinking, and why breaking out through travel, art, or even a conversation in a roadside bar can shift our sense of what matters. David shared how he sees philosophy not as an abstract endeavor, but as something that shapes and is shaped by how we live, vote, and act, even when we don’t realize it.

We explored identity, language, and what it means to call something the “self.” Through examples ranging from ventriloquism to tattoos, interpretive dance to jazz, we talked about the ways in which expression both reveals and creates who we are. We also touched on the tensions between personal life and philosophical thinking whether philosophy professors have a responsibility to attend to the impact of the ideas they share, and how theory can subtly or dramatically reshape a life.

This conversation is less about offering conclusions and more about tracing connections between experience, expression, and thought how books, art, and politics all become personal, and how sometimes the question isn’t whether philosophy matters, but whether we’re paying attention to how it already has.

00:00 – Introduction: Welcoming David Goldblatt back to the podcast
01:00 – On travel, breaking routine, and escaping academic provincialism
04:00 – Universities and the danger of believing the “ivory tower” is the whole world
07:00 – On animals, instinct, and seeing ourselves as part of nature
09:00 – Nietzsche, Buddha, and clearing out the self
12:00 – The idea of the “other self” and language as a limitation
15:00 – Wittgenstein and the meaning of words through their use
18:00 – Why people resist philosophical questioning in daily life
21:00 – How philosophy can alienate or awaken depending on how it’s taught
25:00 – The danger of skepticism and why some philosophies confuse students
28:00 – Bringing philosophy into daily conversation
32:00 – On contentment, anxiety, and the limits of intellectual detachment
35:00 – Academic distance versus lived experience in philosophy
39:00 – The classroom as a space of transformation and responsibility
43:00 – Meaning, death, and the search for purpose in an absurd world
47:00 – Philosophy as a lived practice rather than a detached study
50:00 – Art, ventriloquism, and being both creator and creation
54:00 – The aesthetics of everyday life and finding beauty in the ordinary
57:00 – Writing, journaling, and self-reflection as philosophical acts
1:00:00 – Vulnerability, diaries, and the art of recording thought
1:03:00 – Legacy, wisdom, and writing about overlooked art forms
1:06:00 – Aesthetics of bookshelves and the philosophy of ordinary spaces
1:09:00 – Closing reflections: seeing philosophy and art in everything

In this episode, I speak with David Goldblatt, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Denison University, who has spent decades redefining how we think about aesthetics and art. Unlike traditional philosophers who primarily focus on "high art," David has expanded the boundaries of aesthetics to include overlooked yet culturally significant areas such as sports, ventriloquism, and jazz music. Our conversation opens with a lively debate about what truly qualifies as art, questioning why certain forms like classical music are often revered while others like doo-wop or even sports are marginalized.

We explore David's unique perspective on beauty, delving into how context, narrative, and personal connection shape our experiences and judgments of beauty. He highlights how everyday activities like the movement of athletes or the simple silence in nature can profoundly impact our emotional and intellectual landscapes. David passionately argues for recognizing beauty not only in extraordinary moments but also in the mundane, asserting that such experiences contribute significantly to personal happiness and optimism.

Finally, we dive into his fascination with ventriloquism, discussing its philosophical implications for identity and self-expression. We consider how ventriloquism metaphorically represents the internal dialogues we have with ourselves, offering insights into the complexity of human consciousness. Join me in this thoughtful exploration, as we uncover the profound ways beauty and art are woven into the fabric of our everyday lives.

00:00 – Introduction

02:00 – Discovering the Vernacular Arts

05:10 – High Art vs. Common Art

06:30 – Interpretation and Seeing Anew

08:50 – Do Stories Have a Right Answer?

09:40 – What Makes Something Art?

19:00 – Narrative and Meaning

22:40 – Ventriloquism as Philosophy

27:00 – The Sublime and Perspective

38:20 – Why Beauty Matters

56:30 – Medium and Mind

1:01:00 – Ventriloquism and the Self

1:06:30 – Travel, Vacation, and the Everyday

1:10:00 – Closing Reflections

In this enriching episode, I sit down with Mohan Matthen, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Toronto and an esteemed figure in contemporary philosophy of perception, aesthetics, and the nature of time. Our conversation takes us from his personal journey transitioning from mathematics and physics into philosophy, highlighting his unique cross-disciplinary approach and his deep exploration of sense perception.

Mohan and I delve into fascinating discussions about how our senses sight, sound, touch are integrated by the mind to form coherent experiences of the world. He explores intriguing philosophical puzzles, such as whether beauty is purely sensory or cognitively constructed, using examples from abstract art by Mark Rothko to the mathematical elegance of Euler’s formula. We discuss the profound phenomenon of awe and its sensory and intellectual components, considering how appreciation of beauty varies with attention, cultural context, and personal openness.

We also reflect on practical ways to enhance one's sensory awareness and appreciation for beauty, including simple exercises like spending intentional time observing artworks or natural scenes. Mohan shares insights on how shifting from active seeking to passive receiving in perception can unlock new depths of aesthetic experience, even in everyday environments. This episode invites listeners to reconsider their relationship with the sensory world and explore the profound intersections between philosophy, perception, and the arts.

00:00 – Introduction
02:00 – Growing up in India and discovering philosophy through physics
06:00 – Shifting from mathematics to metaphysics
09:00 – The differences between studying philosophy in India and the West
13:00 – Ancient Indian philosophy and the analytic study of perception
17:00 – Comparing Indian and Greek traditions of inquiry
22:00 – Sense perception and the philosophy of how we know
26:00 – The multisensory mind: hearing, vision, and coordination
31:00 – What counts as sense perception versus mental computation
36:00 – Molyneux’s question and the limits of perception
42:00 – The philosophy of knowledge and perception in Indian thought
45:00 – Is beauty sensory or intellectual?
50:00 – Awe, mathematics, and the beauty of discovery
55:00 – Poetry, meaning, and the sensory imagination
1:00:00 – Attention, receptivity, and the 10-minute art exercise
1:05:00 – Discovering beauty in unexpected places
1:09:00 – Poverty, chaos, and finding aesthetics in the everyday
1:13:00 – Context, openness, and cultural understanding of beauty
1:16:00 – Closing reflections: curiosity, awe, and re-educating our perception

In this enlightening episode, I speak with Bence Nanay, Professor of Philosophy and BOF Research Professor at the University of Antwerp, and Director of the Centre for Philosophical Psychology. Bence shares his intriguing journey from film criticism to philosophy, highlighting his interest in understanding why we appreciate certain artworks and not others, and how our perceptual systems shape our aesthetic experiences.

We delve into the nuanced concept of aesthetic experiences, exploring how they differ significantly based on individual perceptual histories, attention, and openness. Bence introduces the powerful idea that true aesthetic appreciation often comes when our attention is distributed rather than narrowly focused. He emphasizes the importance of approaching art without preconceived notions, enabling a deeper, more genuine engagement.

Our discussion further addresses the impact of societal and personal constraints on our aesthetic judgments, illuminating how identity and self-perception can restrict or enrich our experiences. Bence passionately advocates for aesthetic humility and openness, encouraging us to embrace diverse forms of artistic appreciation without judgment or arrogance. Join us as we explore how adopting these principles can profoundly enhance not only our interactions with art but also our broader understanding and enjoyment of life itself.

00:00 – Introduction: Meeting Bence Nanay and his work on aesthetics and perception02:00 – From film critic to philosopher: discovering how the mind shapes beauty05:00 – What makes a good film? Subjectivity and shared experience08:00 – Perceptual learning and how our history shapes what we find beautiful11:00 – The mystery of aesthetic experience: why beauty strikes us differently each time14:00 – Distributed attention: the cognitive key to aesthetic experience18:00 – Can aesthetic attention be cultivated or trained?22:00 – Freedom, constraint, and how expectations limit beauty25:00 – Art, education, and the loss of creative freedom in schools29:00 – Productivity, structure, and why goal-oriented creation kills curiosity33:00 – The joy of doing for its own sake: how art restores playfulness36:00 – The pluralism of beauty: how every person’s experience is unique40:00 – Identity, guilty pleasures, and the myth of “good taste”44:00 – Self-perception, judgment, and the freedom to enjoy47:00 – Aesthetic humility: openness, tolerance, and learning from difference51:00 – Closing reflections: curiosity, attention, and living aesthetically