34. Colin McGinn — Paradoxes, Puzzles, and Philosophy
The Michael Shermer Show
Michael Shermer
4.4 • 921 Ratings
🗓️ 22 August 2018
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In their second Science Salon conversation Michael Shermer and Colin McGinn consider the broader sweep of philosophy after their first encounter in which they focused on consciousness, free will, and God. In this dialogue they review some of the paradoxes and puzzles of philosophy, pseudo-questions, realism v. antirealism, how to deal with unknown unknowns, immortality and the nature of the self and soul, and how McGinn and Daniel Dennett differ in their positions on mysterianism. Another hard-hitting and illuminating conversation.
If you missed it, listen to part 1 of this dialogue with Colin McGinn: Mysterianism, Consciousness, Free Will, and God (Science Salon # 29).
This remote Science Salon was recorded on July 20, 2018.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is your host, Michael Sherman, and you're listening to Science Salon, a series of conversations |
| 0:10.4 | with leading scientists, scholars, and thinkers about the most important issues of our time. |
| 0:17.0 | If you enjoy the video, audio, and written content we produce, |
| 0:24.0 | please show your support by making a donation |
| 0:27.0 | at skeptic.com slash donate, |
| 0:30.0 | or a monthly pledge at patreon.com slash skeptic. |
| 0:35.0 | Your ongoing patronage is vital to our organization's mission |
| 0:39.1 | to promote science and critical thinking. |
| 0:41.8 | For listeners that are just tuning in for the first time Colin and I had a previous conversation |
| 0:46.3 | about some of the topics in my Scientific American column involving |
| 0:49.8 | mysteriousism related to consciousness, free will, and God. and you had your own |
| 0:55.0 | had your own thoughts about that since you are Mr. |
| 0:58.8 | Mysterion himself and of course I'm not the first person to get it wrong or have a different perspective on this and as you know our mutual friend Dan Dennett |
| 1:08.1 | Has pushed back against you on some of these things and that's of course course that's normal for the course of scholarship is that people debate |
| 1:16.0 | and push back and that's how we hopefully get closer to the truth. |
| 1:19.4 | You had just sent me an email about something, somebody sent you an email, a YouTube video of Dan and Chomsky or something like that. I haven't had a chance to see that. |
| 1:30.0 | But to me, that's just part of the normal course of scholarly debate and how we refine our ideas. |
| 1:39.1 | And so I guess the question is, oh, and then one more thing to our listeners, Colin penned an essay that we have |
| 1:45.8 | posted at Skeptic.com, what's it like to be a human, sort of a playoff of Thomas |
| 1:51.0 | Nagles, what's it like to be a bat. |
| 1:53.4 | And so maybe we should start there. |
| 1:55.3 | Why did you write that? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Michael Shermer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Michael Shermer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.