In this episode, I sit down with Paul Thagard, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Waterloo, whose career has bridged philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and computer modeling. Paul has spent decades exploring how humans think, feel, and make sense of the world. From scientific reasoning and creativity to consciousness and the meaning of life, his work has helped reshape how we understand the mind itself.

We talk about how he first fell in love with philosophy as a teenager shelving books in a public library, and how that early curiosity evolved into a lifelong pursuit of understanding how reasoning and inference work. Paul explains his theory of coherence, showing how both thought and emotion can be understood through neural networks that seek balance and connection. We also discuss motivated reasoning, how emotions shape our beliefs, and why science and philosophy must work together to reveal truth and value.

The conversation turns deeply human as we explore his scientific theory of meaning. Drawing from his book The Brain and the Meaning of Life, Paul argues that love, work, and play are not just sources of happiness but the biological and psychological foundations of a meaningful life. We end by reflecting on empathy, curiosity, and how wonder can lead not to mysticism, but to understanding. It’s a conversation about truth, beauty, and what it really means to be human.

⏱️Chapter

00:00 – Introduction: Meeting Paul Thagard, philosopher and cognitive scientist
02:00 – Discovering philosophy at age 15 in a public library
06:00 – From curiosity to cognition: how reasoning became his lifelong pursuit
10:00 – Reason vs inference: how we think, feel, and communicate
14:00 – Social reasoning and why communication is central to thought
18:00 – Creativity and the psychology of discovery
22:00 – Defining science and its difference from belief or politics
27:00 – Misinformation, evidence, and the culture of truth
31:00 – The balance between science, ethics, and values
36:00 – Wonder, awe, and the human drive to understand
41:00 – Can science explain beauty, art, and emotion?
46:00 – The theory of coherence: how the brain fits reality together
51:00 – Neural networks, reasoning, and the structure of consciousness
56:00 – Motivated reasoning and how emotions distort evidence
1:00:00 – Ethics in science: curiosity, danger, and responsibility
1:03:00 – The meaning of life: love, work, and play as biological truths
1:06:00 – Closing reflections on empathy, rationality, and the future of understanding