Branches of Philosophy Podcast

Ai generated & human edited. Introduction and summary of "The Paradox of Self-consciousness" By Jose Luis Bermudez 1998In this book, Jos Luis Berm dez addesses two fundamental problems in the philosophy and psychology of self-consciousness: (1) Can we provide a noncircular account of fully fledged self-conscious thought and language in terms of more fundamental capacities? (2) Can we explain...

Ai generated & human edited. Introduction and summary of "The puzzle of Experience” By J. J. Valberg 1992If we reason in a certain way about our experience, we are driven to the conclusion that what is present to us - the object of our experience - is something that exists only in so far as it is present, hence that it is not part of the world. If, on the other hand, we simply open up to our...

Ai generated & human edited. Introduction and summary of "The Spread Mind: Why Consciousness and the World Are One" By Riccardo Manzotti 2021Once we came out of the jungle and found time to think of something besides food, sex, and shelter, we confronted the fundamental questions: what are we? Who are we? Is a person a body, a soul? How do we access the external world if we are nothing but...

Ai generated & human edited. Introduction and summary of "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All" By Eliezer Yudkowsky, Nate Soares 2025In 2023, hundreds of AI luminaries signed an open letter warning that artificial intelligence poses a serious risk of human extinction. Since then, the AI race has only intensified. Companies and countries are rushing to build...

Ai generated & human edited. Introduction and summary of "Self-knowledge for Humans" By Quassim Cassam 2014Human beings are not model epistemic citizens. Our reasoning can be careless and uncritical, and our beliefs, desires, and other attitudes aren't always as they ought rationally to be. Our beliefs can be eccentric, our desires irrational and our hopes hopelessly unrealistic. Our...

Ai generated & human edited. Introduction and summary of "Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding"By Sarah Blaffer Hrdy 2009Somewhere in Africa, more than a million years ago, a line of apes began to rear their young differently than their Great Ape ancestors. From this new form of care came new ways of engaging and understanding each other. How such singular...

Ai generated & human edited. Introduction and summary of "The Phenomenal Basis of Intentionality" By Angela A. Mendelovici 2018Intentionality is the mind's ability to be "of," "about," or "directed" at things, or to "say" something. For example, a thought might "say" that grass is green or that Santa Claus is jolly, and a visual experience might be "of" a blue cup. While the existence of the...

Ai generated & human edited. Introduction and summary of "Materialist Phenomenology: A Philosophy of Perception" By Manuel DeLanda 2021Bringing together phenomenology and materialism, two perspectives seemingly at odds with each other, leading international theorist, Manuel DeLanda, has created an entirely new theory of visual perception. Engaging the scientific (biology, ecological...

Ai generated & human edited. Introduction and summary of "A Theory of Sentience" By Austen Clark 2000'A Theory of Sentience is as valuable for the questions it opens up as for the positive theory it puts forward. Austen Clark has brought to our attention a way of thinking about the details of sensory experience which opens up possibilities for fruitful interaction between philosophy,...

Ai generated & human edited. Introduction and summary of "Becoming Human: From Pointing Gestures to Syntax" By Teresa Bejarano 2011What do the pointing gesture, the imitation of new complex motor patterns, the evocation of absent objects and the grasping of others’ false beliefs all have in common? Apart from being (one way or other) involved in the language, they all would share a demanding...