Neuro-Everything?
Are we on the verge of unlocking the secrets of the human brain? Colin Blakemore reveals neuroscience's profound new insights into human behaviour, with seismic consequences for everything from...
View ArticleThinking Without Limits
Simon Saunders is currently Professor of Philosophy of Physics at the University of Oxford, and Fellow of Linacre College. He is noted for his work on quantum mechanics (particularly the many-worlds...
View ArticleEntering the Soul Niche
Nicholas Humphrey is a theoretical psychologist whose books include Soul Dust. His study of primate psychology led him to a radical new theory of human consciousness. We spoke to him about why the...
View ArticleStories of Desire
A mosquito bite is good way of understanding Deleuze and Guattari’s definition of desire. For them, desire is a cut in a flow and the start of another flow. We see this in the mosquito: interrupted in...
View ArticleConsciousness, Actually
The problem of consciousness is one of the hardest facing science and philosophy today. But in order to inquire fruitfully into this great problem, we first need to make sure we are asking the same...
View ArticleA New Model of Consciousness
Do we need a radically new model to explain the place of consciousness in the material world?The answer is yes, because both old models are failing.Old model #1 is materialism – also known as...
View ArticleA Material World?
More than 50 years ago Wilfrid Sellars challenged philosophers to explain how to reconcile the universe as we ordinarily experience it with what issues from the sciences, especially physics. In 1963’s...
View ArticleThe Reality Instinct
“Intuition comes very close to clairvoyance; it appears to be the extrasensory perception of reality.” -- Alexis CarrelIntuition, or what is also known as instinct or gut feeling, can indeed...
View ArticleDesire, Dreams, and Happiness
Human beings are desirous of many things – both material and emotional. We like to live comfortably and we need emotional relationships with others to fulfill our desires for intimacy and emotional...
View ArticleEnlightenment’s Wake
There is little doubt that one of the legacies to us of the Enlightenment is the idea of thinking for oneself. The rallying cry of the era’s great philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was: “Have the...
View ArticleKnow Thyself
What does it mean to be true to yourself? Each one of us has a unique sense of self, but to arrive at that realisation is a lifetime project. This is especially true today.We live in a world...
View ArticleOwning Your Body
Have we radically misunderstood the value of the body? In this issue of IAI News, we interrogate the significance of the human body from a host of different perspectives: feminism, neuroscience,...
View ArticleA World Without Truth
In this issue of IAI News we look back over the biggest ideas of 2015. The key question this year has been how to move beyond the old postmodern arguments about objective truth. In July we introduced...
View ArticleAuthenticity, Reality and Being
‘Authenticity’ is a quality that has drawn a polarised response in the history of philosophy, especially in discussions of the self. Is there something that captures who I really am? And if so, should...
View ArticleWhy Do We Make So Much of Consciousness?
We like to think of ourselves as being in control of our own thoughts, decisions and actions – what we say and what we do. But how much do our conscious thoughts and intentions guide our actions? How...
View ArticleWilful Blindness
Are you the sum total of your experiences – or a sum total of your memories? The fact that the two are so wildly different isn’t only because, over time, memories fade. It is also because we may not...
View ArticleFriston vs Brogaard: Down the Rabbit Hole - part 1
Read part 2: Berit Brogaard asks, if we cannot trust our senses, where does this leave our beliefs?All experience is the product of inference. All experience is a highly sophisticated, hierarchically...
View ArticleFriston vs Brogaard: Down the Rabbit Hole - part 2
Read part 1: Karl Friston asks, is our experience real, or simply a construct of the brain?Experience is a construct of the brain. I think all the discussants in the Down the Rabbit Hole debate agreed...
View ArticleReality Bites
Seeing is believing. Yet optical illusions and acid trips make clear that what we see is a function of what we think and believe. Might perception and experience be a creative response, enabling us to...
View ArticleTruth, Lies and Self-Deception
It pleases the editors of the OED to release, at increasingly frequent intervals, lists of words newly added to the dictionary. They mostly divide between those you would expect to find there already,...
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