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a philosophy podcast about neurodivergenceThemes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Neurodivergence philosophy • Autism “mind-myths” • Theory of mind critique • Replication failures, pseudoscience, Popper/Lakatos • Research values: pathology vs neurodiversity • Double empathy problem, monotropism, interoception • Empathy types, testing, development • Empathy, morality, deliberate practiceThis podcast is a philosophy-focused exploration of neurodivergence, with a strong emphasis on autism and on how scientific concepts shape social life. Across the episodes, the hosts examine influential ideas in psychology and psychiatry—especially the claim that autism involves a “theory of mind” deficit—and treat these ideas as targets for conceptual analysis, historical reconstruction, and ethical scrutiny. The discussions trace how particular experimental methods (such as false-belief tasks) became central tools for measuring social understanding, why results have been difficult to replicate, and how shifting definitions and measurement practices can keep a disputed research program alive.
A recurring theme is the relationship between science and values. The podcast highlights how assumptions about what counts as “normal,” “deficient,” or “healthy” influence research questions, interpretations of data, and the real-world consequences for autistic people. It contrasts deficit-oriented frameworks with approaches associated with the neurodiversity paradigm, and it surveys alternative models for understanding autistic social differences—such as the double empathy problem, monotropism, and accounts emphasizing interoception and alexithymia—without defaulting to dehumanizing explanations.
The show also connects philosophy of science to practical stakes, asking when questionable research becomes pseudoscience and what criteria (including falsifiability and research-program dynamics) can and cannot tell us about scientific legitimacy. Alongside these methodological questions, the podcast treats empathy as an especially contested concept: it interrogates stereotypes that autistic people “lack” empathy or are uniformly “hyper-empathetic,” looks at the limitations of psychometric testing, and considers multiple components of empathy (cognitive, affective, and skill-based elements). Empathy is presented not only as a psychological phenomenon but as something tied to moral life—potentially a set of practices that can be developed and refined, and that may look different across individuals and neurotypes.
| 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 |