Go offline with the Player FM app!
How other species challenge our idea of consciousness | Peter Godfrey-Smith
Manage episode 495822722 series 1259856
In this IAI Studio interview, philosopher and science writer Peter Godfrey-Smith explores the evolution of consciousness and the enduring mystery of the mind–body problem. Drawing on his work with octopuses and other animals, he argues that consciousness emerged gradually through increasingly complex forms of sensory-motor interaction, rather than as a sudden leap. Using cephalopods as a case study, he shows how minds can evolve in radically different ways, suggesting that subjective experience is more widespread,and varied, than we often assume. The conversation touches on ethics, the limits of physicalism, and how studying animal minds can reshape our understanding of our own.
Peter Godfrey-Smith is a philosopher of science and a leading thinker on the evolution of consciousness and animal minds. He is a professor at the University of Sydney and the author of several acclaimed books, including Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness and Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind. His work combines philosophy, biology, and firsthand experience with marine animals to explore how subjective experience arises in the natural world. Through his research and writing, Godfrey-Smith offers a compelling naturalistic account of the mind that bridges science and philosophy.
To witness such topics discussed live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/
And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/
You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
516 episodes
Manage episode 495822722 series 1259856
In this IAI Studio interview, philosopher and science writer Peter Godfrey-Smith explores the evolution of consciousness and the enduring mystery of the mind–body problem. Drawing on his work with octopuses and other animals, he argues that consciousness emerged gradually through increasingly complex forms of sensory-motor interaction, rather than as a sudden leap. Using cephalopods as a case study, he shows how minds can evolve in radically different ways, suggesting that subjective experience is more widespread,and varied, than we often assume. The conversation touches on ethics, the limits of physicalism, and how studying animal minds can reshape our understanding of our own.
Peter Godfrey-Smith is a philosopher of science and a leading thinker on the evolution of consciousness and animal minds. He is a professor at the University of Sydney and the author of several acclaimed books, including Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness and Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind. His work combines philosophy, biology, and firsthand experience with marine animals to explore how subjective experience arises in the natural world. Through his research and writing, Godfrey-Smith offers a compelling naturalistic account of the mind that bridges science and philosophy.
To witness such topics discussed live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/
And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/
You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
516 episodes
All episodes
×Welcome to Player FM!
Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices.