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a philosophy podcast about neurodivergenceThemes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ autism philosophy • theory of mind “deficit” critique • empathy and morality • autistic lived experience • psychometric testing limits • pseudoscience/replication debates • neurodiversity vs pathology paradigms • alternative models: double empathy, monotropism, interoception • values in scienceThis podcast is a philosophy-focused exploration of neurodivergence, with Season 1 centered on “autism mind-myths” that have shaped research, clinical practice, and everyday assumptions about autistic people. Across the episodes, the hosts examine how influential psychological concepts—especially “theory of mind”—became tied to autism, how these ideas were operationalized through tools like false-belief tests, and how subsequent research programs attempted to defend or revise the resulting “deficit” narrative. The show treats these developments as both conceptual and ethical issues, emphasizing how methodological choices, replication problems, and ambiguous definitions can interact with stigma and institutional incentives.
A recurring theme is the role of philosophy of science in evaluating autism research. The podcast discusses what distinguishes productive scientific inquiry from degenerating research programs and pseudoscience, drawing on thinkers such as Karl Popper and Imre Lakatos to frame questions about falsifiability, shifting goalposts, and whether a research tradition can become entrenched even when its evidential foundations weaken. Alongside critique, the show highlights emerging alternatives for understanding autistic social and perspectival differences that do not rely on deficit framing, including the double empathy problem, monotropism, and accounts emphasizing interoception and related factors.
The podcast also foregrounds values in science: how background assumptions influence what researchers look for, how they interpret results, and what ends research is ultimately meant to serve. Autistic-led perspectives and lived experience are treated as philosophically and methodologically relevant, including discussion of tensions between mainstream autism research and autistic communities.
In its later arc, the podcast turns to empathy, challenging simplistic claims that autistic people either lack empathy or are uniformly hyper-empathetic. It examines the limits of psychometric measurement, distinguishes different components and processes involved in empathy (including theory of mind, emotional contagion, and reflective understanding), and considers how empathy connects to moral life—not merely as a feeling, but as a set of skills that can be developed and practiced in different ways by different people.
| Episodes: |
Episode 7: "Deliberative Empathy"2025-Aug-07 44 minutes |
Episode 6: "I choose to live life deliberately"2025-Aug-04 34 minutes |
Episode 5: "New Paradigms, New Values"2023-Dec-11 43 minutes |
Episode 4: "Zombie Pseudoscience"2023-Dec-04 41 minutes |
Episode 3: "Violins and Violas"2023-Nov-27 35 minutes |
Episode 2: "An Intellectualist Fossil"2023-Nov-20 30 minutes |
Episode 1: "A Productive Irritant"2023-Nov-13 24 minutes |
Welcome to NeuroDiving (Trailer)2023-Nov-03 3 minutes |