In this conversation philospher Raymond Tallis talks about his new book 'Circling Around Explicitness: The heart of human being'. Ray's book opens with a quote from German philosopher Friedrich Schelling ‘Uniquely within us nature opens her eyes and sees that she exists.’ What follows is an exploration of the meaning of 'thatness', his attempt to, in his words, 'eff the uneffed'. Our circling alights on a number of thinkers who he believes oversimplify misrepresent being, how 'the blob and the brain' become 'the bloke' . Donald Hoffman, Phillip K. Dick and Martin Buber get a mention, not all favourable, as does the 'autocidal tendency in contemproary philosophy', as we work through the four section of his book. To close he reads the closing paragraphs and gives us a peek at what is coming next. Great conversation.

Participants:

Raymond Tallis, philosopher and former professor of geriatric medicine, http://www.raymondtallis.co.uk/pages/home.html

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist: http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk

Ray's books: Circling around explicitness:https://cup.columbia.edu/book/circling-round-explicitness/9781788217903/

Black mirror: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-black-mirror/raymond-tallis/9781848871298

Also discussed: Martin Buber: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_and_Thou

Opening and closing music: Prelude to the opera Brainland, composed by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Sketch by KB.

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Earlier this season we recorded an episode on poetry and neuroscience in which Eugen Wassiliwitzki pointed out that in German the grammar produces many more internal rhymes and rhythms. This is perhaps even more true of Italian. The leading Italian poet of the last century is probably Nobel Prize winner Eugenio Montale. Jonathan Galassi has been reading, researching and translating Montale for decades. In this podcast he talks about Montale's background, influences, politics, religion and love-life. Jonathan reads one of his most famous poems in Italian and in his translation and one of his own from his collection 'North Street'. We touch on his antipathy for fellow poet and film director Pasolini before concluding with a brief discussion of Italian poetry after Montale.

Participants:

Jonathan Galassi, poet, novelist, translator and publisher. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Galassi

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist: http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk

Jonathan's translations of Montale: http://www.everymanslibrary.co.uk/pocket-poets-author.aspx?letter=m&search=&firstname=Eugenio&surname=Montale

The poem Jonathan reads, 'In limine' read in Italian by Montale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6-JXcllsIw

A sung version of the Montale poem 'Meriggiare pallido e assorto':https://open.spotify.com/artist/61zXi10WbO8ZCyCy9CyW0n?si=Upq_coi3TVq1TdOwR1sT-A

Examples of Jonathan's own poetry: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/jonathan-galassi

Opening and closing music: Prelude to the opera Brainland, composed by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Sketch by KB.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can current thinking in psychology and neuroscience, about how we make decisions, inform our understanding of moral questions and make for a better society? That question is central to David Redish's book 'Changing How We Choose'. In this podcast David defines neuroeconomics and explains why applying science and engineering models to moral questions is useful, 'engineering' relating to applying what is learned from science to the real world situations. He talks through 'deliberative', 'procedura'l and 'instinctual' decision making systems, underpinned by different neural structures. He explains two key games that help inform his discipline, the 'prisoner's dilemma' and the 'assurance game' with real world examples. David also explains 'asabiya', an Arabic term that denotes an important concept relating to collaboration. We conclude with a discussion of how the optimistic tone of his book, and this approach, stands up to the world as it has evolved since his book was released in 2022.

Participants:

A David Redish, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota. https://med.umn.edu/bio/david-redish

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist: http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk

David's book, 'Changing How We Choose: The new science of morality': https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262047364/changing-how-we-choose/

An episode of 'Golden Balls', a game show discussed: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=golden+balls+split+or+steal+100+000

'The prisoner's dilemma' briefly explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdITTDl5coE

Opening and closing music: Prelude to the opera Brainland, composed by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Sketch by KB.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.