#327 — Transformative Experiences

Making Sense with Sam Harris

Waking Up with Sam Harris

Samharris, Currentevents, Politics, Ethics, Religion, Neuroscience, Science, Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.6 • 29.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2023

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sam Harris speaks with L.A. Paul about the nature of transformative experiences. They discuss how certain experiences change the self, the nature of regret, changing belief systems, conspiracy thinking, empathy, doing good in the world, our relationship to our future selves, changing our values, the nature of possibility, the ethics of punishment, moral luck, the moral landscape, consequentialism, and other topics.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Making Sense Podcast. This is Sam Harris. Just a note to say that if you're
0:12.1	hearing this, you are not currently on our subscriber feed and will only be hearing
0:16.2	the first part of this conversation. In order to access full episodes of the Making
0:20.4	Sense Podcast, you'll need to subscribe at SamHarris.org. There you'll find our private
0:25.3	RSS feed to add to your favorite pod catcher, along with other subscriber-only content. We
0:30.6	don't run ads on the podcast, and therefore it's made possible entirely through the support
0:34.6	of our subscribers. So if you enjoy what we're doing here, please consider becoming one.
0:45.8	Welcome to the Making Sense Podcast. This is Sam Harris.
0:49.4	Today I'm speaking with L.A. Paul. Laurie Paul is the Milestone family professor of philosophy
0:56.2	and professor of cognitive science at Yale University. Her main research interests are in metaphysics,
1:02.6	cognitive science, decision theory, and the philosophy of mind. She's tended to focus on questions
1:08.8	about the nature of the self, preference change, subjective value, temporal experience,
1:15.8	causation, time, perception, among others. Her most recent book is titled
1:22.3	transformative experience. That was really our focus in this conversation. We talk about the
1:27.4	nature of transformative experiences, how they change the self that has had the experience,
1:33.5	often ways that can't be understood, unless that change occurs. We discuss the nature of regret,
1:39.4	changing belief systems, conspiracy thinking, empathy, doing good in the world,
1:45.8	our relationship to our future selves, what it might mean to change our values,
1:51.0	the nature of possibility, the ethics of punishment, moral luck, the moral landscape,
1:58.2	consequentialism, and other topics. Anyway, fascinating territory. I hope you enjoy it,
2:05.4	and I bring you LA Paul.
2:13.2	I am here with LA Paul. Laurie, thanks for joining me. Thank you for having me.
	...

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