Twitter: @CloserToTruth • @RobertLawrKuhn (@CloserToTruth followed by 34 philosophers)
Site: www.closertotruth.com
100 episodes
2018 to present
Average episode: 30 minutes
Open in Apple Podcasts • RSS
Categories: Interview-Style • Mind/Consciousness • Philosophy+/Philosophyish/Ideas/Etc.
Podcaster's summary: Closer To Truth presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions in Cosmos, Consciousness, and Meaning.
| Episodes |
| 2023-Mar-22 • 76 minutes Nicholas Humphrey on Sentience: The Invention of Consciousness Neuropsychologist Nicholas Humphrey discusses his new book, Sentience: The Invention of Consciousness. He tackles the hard problem, Phenomenal Consciousness vs. Cognitive Consciousness, and Identity Theory, while providing insight into his theory of consciousness and the experiments conducted throughout his career. He also shares his thoughts on if AI will ever be conscious and if consciousness could have evolved somewhere else in the universe. Nicholas Humphrey, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the... |
| 2023-Mar-15 • 27 minutes Is Time Travel Possible? Some scientists take time travel seriously. Should you? What does time travel reveal about the nature of space and time and the laws of physics under extreme conditions? This episode features interviews with Michio Kaku, J. Gott, Kip Thorne, Fred Wolf, and Seth Lloyd. For subscriber-only exclusives, register for free at www.closertotruth.com. |
| 2023-Mar-08 • 38 minutes Jill Tarter on Alien Intelligences, Extraterrestrial Technology, and SETI Jill Tarter, former Director of the Center for SETI Research, talks to host Robert Lawrence Kuhn about the search for alien life, alien technology and technosignatures, the Fermi Paradox, risks from encountering alien civilizations, and the future of SETI and mankind. Jill Tarter is the former Director of the Center for SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) Research at the SETI Institute. She earned her Bachelor of Engineering Physics Degree with Distinction from Cornell University and a MS and a ... |
| 2023-Mar-01 • 27 minutes What are Scientific Breakthroughs in Physics? Science explores how the world works. Breakthroughs drive science, challenging conventional wisdom, changing ways of thinking. Physics is foundational. What are Breakthroughs in Physics? What characterizes Breakthroughs in Physics? Featuring interviews with Robbert Dijkgraaf, Edward Witten, Karen Uhlenbeck, and Sabine Hossenfelder. For subscriber-only exclusives, register for free at closertotruth.com. |
| 2023-Feb-22 • 73 minutes Sean Carroll on the Biggest Ideas in the Universe Sean Carroll talks about about his terrific new book, The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion. He also dives into the importance of equations in popular science writing, conservation, Noether’s Theorem, the mechanics of space, the nature of time, black holes, gravity, and many other topics. After many years at Caltech, Sean is now at Johns Hopkins University - the Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy - a joint appointment between physics and philosophy. His research focused on cosmolo... |
| 2023-Feb-15 • 27 minutes Is Death Final? Is there life after death? Death is the ultimate defeat. No matter our successes, we are all doomed to suffer the final failure. But some claim that death is not final. Can the defeat be defeated? In this episode, Robert Lawrence Kuhn speaks with Gregory A. Boyd, John Hick, Deepak Chopra, Warren Brown, and Eric Steinhart. For subscriber-only exclusives, register for free at closertotruth.com. |
| 2023-Feb-08 • 56 minutes Donald Hoffman on Reality, Consciousness, and Conscious Agents Donald Hoffman discusses the nature of reality, what is real, his theory of consciousness, and how this theory affects everything from artificial intelligence to alien life and the Fermi Paradox. Donald D. Hoffman is Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine and author of Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See and coauthor of Observer Mechanics: A Formal Theory Of Perception. For more on this series, visit our website at www.closertotruth.com. |
| 2023-Feb-01 • 26 minutes What are Scientific Breakthroughs in Biology? What is the world fundamentally, deeply made of? What is life? We are always searching for Scientific Breakthroughs: those leaps in knowledge and jumps in understanding that change how we see the world. Now, we focus on Biology. Featuring interviews with Geoffrey West, Stuart Kauffman, V.S. Ramachandran, Antonio Damasio, and Michio Kaku. Register for free at CloserToTruth.com for subscriber-only exclusives. |
| 2023-Jan-25 • 65 minutes Sabine Hossenfelder on Physics and the Big Questions Sabine Hossenfelder talks about if the past exists, how the universe began and how it will end, information, math as reality, time, and consciousness. She also discusses her new book, Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions. Order Sabine's new book now from our Bookshop.org shop. Sabine Hossenfelder is an author and theoretical physicist who researches quantum gravity. She is a Research Fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies where she leads the Analog Systems for... |
| 2023-Jan-18 • 26 minutes How the Subconscious Affects Us How does the subconscious affect us? There is more to our mental lives than the current content of our awareness. Our subconscious affects what we sense, think, feel and do. How does the subconscious work its magic? Featuring interviews with David Eagleman, Elizabeth Loftus, Nicholas Humphrey, Patrick McNamara, and Julia Mossbridge. For subscriber-only exclusives, register for free at www.closertotruth.com. |
| 2023-Jan-11 • 68 minutes Stephon Alexander on the Fear of a Black Universe Stephon Alexander, cosmologist and professor of theoretical physics at Brown University, discusses his most recent book, Fear of a Black Universe: An Outsider's Guide to the Future of Physics, an important guide to both science and society. Alexander's book is available for purchase now. Stephon Alexander is a professor, established jazz musician, and an immigrant from Trinidad. He is the 2020 president of the National Society of Black Physicists and a founding faculty Director of Brown University's Preside... |
| 2023-Jan-04 • 27 minutes What is Philosophy of Biology? What is philosophy of biology? Biology has big questions: What is life, language, race, gender, morality, wisdom, religion, extraterrestrial intelligence? A new field of inquiry seeks underlying structure and coherence. Featuring interviews with Michael Ruse, Francisco J. Ayala, Celia Deane-Drummond, and Louis Caruana. |
| 2022-Dec-21 • 69 minutes Noam Chomsky on Closer To Truth’s Big Questions (Part 4) Closer To Truth is proud to present this four-part miniseries with distinguished theoretical linguist, analytic philosopher, and cognitive scientist Noam Chomsky. In our final part, Chomsky offers his thoughts and opinions on Closer To Truth's "big questions": Does God exist? Why is there something rather than nothing? What are the limits of science? What are the major issues in philosophy of mind? Often referred to as "the father of modern linguistics”, Chomsky helped bring about the cognitive revolution i... |
| 2022-Dec-21 • 39 minutes Noam Chomsky on Linguistic Theories and the Evolution of Language (Part 3) Closer To Truth is proud to present this four-part miniseries with distinguished theoretical linguist, analytic philosopher, and cognitive scientist Noam Chomsky. In Part 3, Chomsky discusses linguistic theories for human sentience and cognition (most notably a Universal Grammar), the evolution of language, and the mystery of consciousness. Often referred to as "the father of modern linguistics”, Chomsky helped bring about the cognitive revolution in the human sciences. At 94, he is one of the most cited li... |
| 2022-Dec-14 • 43 minutes Noam Chomsky on Theories of Linguistics (Part 2) Closer To Truth is proud to present this four-part miniseries with distinguished theoretical linguist, analytic philosopher, and cognitive scientist Noam Chomsky. In Part 2, Chomsky discusses generative and transformational grammar, deep structure paradigm, minimalism, and the relationship between syntax and meaning. Often referred to as "the father of modern linguistics”, Chomsky helped bring about the cognitive revolution in the human sciences. At 94, he is one of the most cited living scholars. He is Ins... |
| 2022-Dec-14 • 28 minutes Noam Chomsky on Intellectual History and Reflections (Part 1) Closer To Truth is proud to present this four-part miniseries with distinguished theoretical linguist, analytic philosopher, cognitive scientist, political critic, and social activist Professor Noam Chomsky. In Part 1, we speak with Chomsky about his initial interest in theoretical linguistics, transformational and universal grammar, his early published works, and his reflections on his discussions and debates with other eminent philosophers. Often referred to as "the father of modern linguistics”, Chomsky ... |
| 2022-Dec-07 • 35 minutes Sir Roger Penrose on Consciousness and New Physics Sir Roger Penrose joins Closer To Truth to discuss consciousness and new physics. Can the known laws of physics explain consciousness? Can the mind be duplicated by a computer? What is the argument against Strong A.I.? What is consciousness and how does it relate to Penrose's Search for a Missing Science of Consciousness? And what are the implications of a New Science of Consciousness for the Three-World Model of Physical, Mental, and Platonic? See more interviews with Sir Roger Penrose: https://bit.ly/3U... |
| 2022-Dec-07 • 114 minutes Sir Roger Penrose on Spacetime, Quantum Mechanics, and General Relativity Sir Roger Penrose talks about the work that earned him a Nobel prize in physics, developing mathematics to analyze spacetime, his 1965 paper "Gravitational Collapse and Space-Time Singularities", Cosmic Censorship Hypothesis, Conformal Cyclic Cosmology, and his thoughts on Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity. See more interviews with Sir Roger Penrose: https://bit.ly/3UvbYkw Sir Roger Penrose is a mathematical physicist and philosopher. He is the Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the ... |
| 2022-Dec-07 • 32 minutes Sir Roger Penrose on Mathematics and World Reflections Sir Roger Penrose shares his thoughts on mathematics and world reflections. He discusses his “three worlds and three deep mysteries” theory, pure mathematics, the “Impossible Penrose Triangle”, M.C. Escher, Penrose tiling, astrophysics, and consciousness. See more interviews with Sir Roger Penrose: https://bit.ly/3UvbYkw Sir Roger Penrose is a mathematical physicist and philosopher. He is the Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute of the University of Oxford, as well ... |
| 2021-May-12 • 27 minutes What's Beyond Physics? COSMOS - Are there revolutionary discoveries yet to be made? Radical revelations and shocking secrets? Does physical reality go beyond what we know today? Far beyond?Featuring Lawrence Krauss, Michio Kaku, Rupert Sheldrake, Paul Davies, and David Chalmers. |
| 2021-May-05 • 27 minutes Can the Brain Explain Art? CONSCIOUSNESS - What is happening in our brains when we perceive and appreciate the arts? What are the neural substrates of artistic sensations, feelings and emotions? How do diverse arts affect the brain? | |
| 2021-Apr-28 • 27 minutes What is Philosophy of Art? CONSCIOUSNESS - What is the nature of art? What makes something “art”, and why should we value it? What is aesthetics and art theory? Can philosophy of art enhance appreciation and practice of the arts? |
| 2021-Apr-21 • 27 minutes Can Metaphysics Discover Surprises? COSMOS - How does metaphysics contribute to our understanding of the world? It asks the most profound questions: What kinds of things exist? How does causality work? Sound too abstract? How about: Does God exist? Are you a soul?Featuring Michio Kaku, Bede Rundle, John Leslie, Richard Swinburne, and Hubert Dreyfus. |
| 2021-Apr-14 • 26 minutes The Mystery of Existence COSMOS - Call all-that-exists “something.” Why is there “something” rather than “nothing”? The question haunts me. Why is there anything at all? | | Featuring Colin McGinn, Peter van Inwagen, Philip Clayton, George Lakoff, and Dean Zimmerman. |
| 2021-Apr-07 • 27 minutes Can Art Clarify the Mind-Body Problem? CONCIOUSNESS - Can art inform the classic mind-body problem? While the relationship between mental activity and physical brain continues to baffle (especially consciousness), can the existence and process of art provide insight? |
| 2021-Mar-31 • 27 minutes Does Information Create the Cosmos? COSMOS - Of what is reality made? What are the most basic building blocks from which the cosmos is constructed? Particles? Mass-Energy? Forces? Fields? A new candidate is ‘Information’—‘IT from BIT’.Featuring Seth Lloyd, Sean Carroll, Raphael Bousso, Alan Guth, and Christof Koch. |
| 2021-Mar-24 • 27 minutes Big Questions in Free Will (Part 1) CONSCIOUSNESS - What is free will? Do we have free will? The ‘Big Questions in Free Will’ project tackles these issues in a multi-year study. In Part I, scientists and philosophers research, test, and advance thinking on free will.Featuring Alfred Mele, Galen Strawson, John Searle, Peter van Inwagen, Christof Koch, Uri Maoz, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Thalia Wheatley, and Peter Tse. |
| 2021-Mar-17 • 27 minutes What Exists? (Part 2) COSMOS - What’s the ultimate stuff of reality? What’s absolutely fundamental and non-reducible — the fewest number of categories within which every specific thing, of every general kind, can be classified?Featuring Barry Loewer, David Albert, Luke Barnes, Raymond Tallis, and George Ellis. |
| 2021-Mar-10 • 27 minutes Can the Cosmos Have a Reason? COSMOS - Perhaps we cannot know the reason for the universe, if there is any. But is it even possible for the universe to have a reason? If yes, how would natural regularities and rules compare with some kind of goal or God?Featuring Alexander Vilenkin, John Polkinghorne, Michael Shermer, Stephen Wolfram, and Stuart Kauffman. |
| 2021-Mar-03 • 27 minutes Can Brain Explain Mind? CONSCIOUSNESS - What is it about the brain that enables some scientists to claim they can explain mind? And what is it about scientific explanations that some philosophers reject?Featuring Christof Koch, Rodolfo Llinas, Raymond Kurzweil, John Searle, and David Chalmers. |
| 2021-Feb-24 • 27 minutes Where are All Those Aliens? COSMOS - Most scientists assume that the universe must be populated with innumerable alien intelligences and civilizations—after all, we humans can't be so special. OK, so where are they, these "innumerable alien intelligences and civilizations"? How come there's zero evidence?Featuring Jill Tarter, Douglas Vakoch, Frank Drake, Raymond Kurzweil, Francisco Ayala, Steven Dick, and David Brin. |
| 2020-Dec-30 • 27 minutes Big Questions in Free Will (Part 2) CONSCIOUSNESS - What is free will? Do we have free will? The ‘Big Questions in Free Will’ project tackles these issues in a multi-year study. In Part I, scientists and philosophers research, test, and advance thinking on free will.Featuring Bertram Malle, Eddy Nahmias, Roy Baumeister, Patrick Haggard, Adina Roskies, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, and Alfred Mele. |
| 2020-Dec-11 • 27 minutes What is the Mind-Body Problem? CONSCIOUSNESS - How is it possible that mushy masses of brain cells, passing chemicals and shooting sparks literally are mental sensations and subjective feelings? They seem so radically different.Featuring John Searle, Ned Block, J.P. Moreland, Marvin Minsky, and Colin McGinn. |
| 2020-Dec-09 • 27 minutes Why a Fine-Tuned Universe? COSMOS - How can so many numbers of nature, the constants and relationships of physics, be so spot-on perfect for humans to exist? Beware: there is more than one answer lurking here.Featuring John Leslie, Steven Weinberg, David Gross, John Polkinghorne, Robin Collins, and Paul Davies. |
| 2020-Dec-02 • 27 minutes Why is There Something Rather Than Nothing? COSMOS - Forget science. Forget God. This is the ultimate question: What if Everything had Forever been Nothing? Not just emptiness, not just blankness, but not even the existence of emptiness, not even the meaning of blankness, and no Forever. If you don't get dizzy, you really don't get it.Featuring John Leslie, Peter van Inwagen, Bede Rundle, Quentin Smith, Richard Swinburne and Steven Weinberg. |
| 2020-Nov-25 • 27 minutes How Could God Interact with the World? MEANING - If God exists, and if God ordains history and generates miracles, how does He do it? Fiddle with each and every atom? Command all of them en masse? What possibly could be God's technique?Featuring Robert Russell, John Polkinghorne, Paul Davies, Alvin Plantinga and Ernan McMullin. |
| 2020-Nov-18 • 27 minutes Toward a Science of Consciousness CONSCIOUSNESS - Why do we have inner awareness? Why does it ‘feel like something’ inside to see, hear, taste, think? It’s called ‘consciousness’ and it seems mysterious—but can science explain it? We talk to experts at the 20th biennial conference, “Toward a Science of Consciousness.”Featuring Stuart Hameroff, David Chalmers, Daniel Dennett, Deepak Chopra, Susan Blackmore and Rebecca Goldstein. |
| 2020-Nov-11 • 26 minutes Did Our Universe Have a Beginning? COSMOS - Everything in the universe has a beginning, but how can the universe as a whole have a start date? Does a universal commencement make sense? What would it possibly mean?Featuring Martin Rees, Wendy Freedman, Alan Guth, George Smoot and Alexander Vilenkin. |
| 2020-Nov-04 • 26 minutes Arguing God from Design MEANING - The world certainly appears to be designed. Are appearances deceiving? Discover new twists to this old argument. | | Featuring Richard Swinburne, Bede Rundle, Steven Weinberg, William Dembski, Francisco Ayala, Michael Shermer, and Freeman Dyson. |
| 2020-Oct-28 • 27 minutes What are Dreams About? CONSCIOUSNESS - Throughout history, dreams have fascinated and mystified. Messages from God? Images of the subconscious? Much about dreams is myth. What‘s real? | | Featuring Robert Stickgold, Deirdre Barrett, Christopher Isham, and Patrick McNamara. |
| 2020-Oct-21 • 27 minutes Did God Create Time? MEANING - God and Time are two huge mysteries; relating them probes the nature of God, and perhaps even the existence of a Creator. If God is in Time and experiences its passage, then how could God have created Time? Also Leibniz's famous question: "Why didn't God create the world sooner?"Featuring Brian Leftow, John Polkinghorne, Ernan McMullin, William Craig, Varadaraja Raman, and Robert Russell. |
| 2020-Oct-14 • 27 minutes Could Our Universe Be a Fake? COSMOS - Perhaps our entire universe is like a gigantic computer game, the creation of super-smart hackers existing somewhere else? Before you smirk and laugh, watch and think!Featuring David Brin, Nick Bostrom, Raymond Kurzweil, Marvin Minsky, and Martin Rees. |
| 2020-Oct-07 • 27 minutes Do Persons Have Souls? CONSCIOUSNESS - Is the "Real You" a special substance that is both nonphysical and immortal? Most people think "Certainly." Most scientists think "Certainly Not." What some theologians think may trouble you.Featuring J.P. Moreland, Nancey Murphy, Daniel Dennett, Peter van Inwagen, and Huston Smith. |
| 2020-Sep-30 • 27 minutes Why is There Anything at All? (Part 2) COSMOS - It’s the ultimate puzzle. It’s the haunting question. Why is there “something” rather than “nothing”? It seems impenetrable, uncrackable, unfathomable. But are there ways? | | Featuring Tim Maudlin, Mario Livio, George Ellis, and David Bentley Hart. |
| 2020-Sep-23 • 27 minutes Arguing God's Existence MEANING - You've heard the raucous noise about God; now listen to the cogent arguments, con and pro. Not that determining the existence of God is up for vote; when searching for Truth, majority opinion counts for nothing.Featuring Keith Ward, Owen Gingerich, William Craig, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Alvin Plantinga, and Steven Weinberg. |
| 2020-Sep-16 • 27 minutes Is Consciousness an Illusion? CONSCIOUSNESS - Is consciousness something special in the universe, a carrier of meaning and purpose? Or is consciousness a mere artifact of the brain, a by-product of evolution? I hope consciousness is special, which is why I must be a skeptic.Featuring Nicholas Humphrey, Julian Baggini, Rebecca Goldstein, Galen Strawson, Anthony Grayling, and Raymond Tallis. |
| 2020-Sep-09 • 27 minutes Is the Universe Fine-Tuned for Life and Mind? COSMOS - If the universe had been ever so slightly different, human beings wouldn't, couldn't, exist. All explanations of this exquisite fine-tuning, obvious and not-so-obvious, have problems.Featuring Martin Rees, Leonard Susskind, Alexander Vilenkin, Russell Stannard, Stephen Wolfram, and Roger Penrose. |
| 2020-Sep-03 • 27 minutes Can Design Point to God? MEANING - To argue for God, the easy way appears to be ‘design’, the obvious order and apparent purpose of the world. How could all of this be if there were no God? Quite easily, says science. What’s the deep thinking on both sides? Featuring Owen Gingerich, Ernan McMullin, Colin McGinn, and Paul Davies. |
| 2020-Aug-26 • 27 minutes Are Brain and Mind the Same Thing? CONSCIOUSNESS - If mind and brain are the same thing, then the physical world is likely all that exists. But if mind and brain are not the same thing, then what? Could reality go beyond the physical?Featuring David Eagleman, Nicholas Humphrey, Richard Swinburne, Raymond Tallis, and Robert Stickgold. |
| 2020-Aug-19 • 27 minutes How Does Beauty Color the Cosmos? COSMOS - What do scientists mean when they call the laws and regularities of nature "beautiful"? On the largest supra-cosmic scales, and on the smallest sub-atomic scales, why do scientists use "beauty" to assess their theories?Featuring Peter Atkins, Roger Penrose, Stephon Alexander, Fotini Markopoulou, Frank Wilczek, and Freeman Dyson. |
| 2020-Aug-12 • 26 minutes Does God Make Sense? MEANING - How can you know whether God really exists, if you do not know what God really is? Diverse religions have diverse views and surprise is in store.Featuring Richard Swinburne, Alvin Plantinga, Daniel Dennett, Seyyed Nasr, Varadaraja Raman, Huston Smith, and Michael Shermer. |
| 2020-Aug-05 • 26 minutes Why is Consciousness so Mysterious? CONSCIOUSNESS - How can the mindless microscopic particles that compose our brains "experience" the setting sun, the Mozart Requiem, and romantic love?Featuring Venerable Dr. Yifa, Susan Blackmore, Keith Ward, Daniel Dennett, David Chalmers, John Searle, and Colin McGinn. |
| 2020-Jul-29 • 27 minutes Why are Black Holes so Astonishing? COSMOS - They warp space and time, squeeze matter to a vanishing point, and trap light so that it cannot escape. How can black holes perform such stupendous tricks, and what can we learn from them?Featuring Robert Laughlin, Peter Atkins, Francisco Ayala, and Philip Clayton. |
| 2020-Jul-26 • 27 minutes Is This the End Time? MEANING - In every generation, some religious believers imagined their time to be the end time. Why is this so? Is our generation different? What, in a religious nutshell, is the End Time?Featuring James Tabor, Robert Saucy, Nancey Murphy, Arthur Hyman, and Gregory Boyd. |
| 2020-Jul-22 • 27 minutes How do Brains Work? CONSCIOUSNESS - Everything we know, everything we think, comes from our brain. Are brains our window to reality, seeing what truly exists? Or are we bound by brains, mental slaves of the meat in our heads?Featuring Christopher Evans, Kelsey Martin, Robert Bilder, Jared Diamond, and Rodney Brooks. |
| 2020-Jul-17 • 27 minutes Can Science Deal With God? COSMOS - Science can deal with God in at least three ways: Showing how God is not necessary; showing how God is likely; not relating to God at all. Only one way can be correct.Featuring Lawrence Krauss, Francis Collins, Robert Russell, Ian Barbour, Freeman Dyson, and Michio Kaku. |
| 2020-Jul-01 • 27 minutes Arguing God From Morality MEANING - Humans have a sense of right and wrong. Does this mean that morality is absolute? And if absolute, would God be needed to make it so? Even theologians are perplexed by God & Morality; some even admit it.Featuring J.P. Moreland, Richard Swinburne, Francis S. Collins, Michael Tooley, and Michael Shermer. |
| 2020-Jun-24 • 27 minutes Confronting Consciousness CONSCIOUSNESS - Consciousness is what mental activity feels like, the private inner experience of sensation, thought, and emotion. Consciousness is like nothing else. | | Featuring David Eagleman, Warren Brown, Keith Ward, Christof Koch, and Tim Bayne. |
| 2020-Jun-17 • 27 minutes What Things Really Exist? COSMOS - When you ask "what things really exist", and you think deeply about this universal probe, you see the whole world anew. It's such a simple question; how does it inspire such profound insight?Featuring Roger Penrose, Peter van Inwagen, John Searle, William Lane Craig, and John Leslie. |
| 2020-Jun-10 • 27 minutes How Can God Not be Free? MEANING - Does God have real choices? Or is God bound tightly by God’s own nature? Can God do absolutely everything? Can God be ‘brave’? Can God ‘improve’? For God to be God, how can God be constrained all? Featuring Michael Almeida, Hugh McCann, Matthews Grant, and David Hunt. |
| 2020-Jun-03 • 26 minutes How Are Brains Structured? CONSCIOUSNESS - As far as we know, brains are the most highly organized matter in the universe. How they make their magic is just astonishing. Featuring Arnold B. Scheibel, Carmine D. Clemente, John D. Schlag, Christof Koch, Mike Merzenich, and Rodolfo R. Llinas. |
| 2020-May-27 • 26 minutes How Vast is the Cosmos? COSMOS - Everyone knows that the universe is huge, but no one could have imagined how staggeringly immense the universe, or multiple universes, may actually be. It stops your breath.Featuring Martin Rees, Max Tegmark, Alan H. Guth, Andrei Linde, and Paul Davies. |
| 2020-May-20 • 27 minutes Arguing God From First Cause MEANING - Does everything need a cause? Everything in the universe surely does. But what about the universe as a whole? And what about God—assuming God exists—does God need a cause? Featuring William Lane Craig, Quentin Smith, Alister McGrath, David Shatz, Charles L. Harper Jr., and Peter van Inwagen. |
| 2020-May-13 • 27 minutes What is Truth? CONSCIOUSNESS - Everyone wants to know ‘Truth’. But what is Truth? People argue about Truth; people fight about Truth—consider politics and religion. But what is the basic meaning of Truth itself? Featuring Simon Blackburn, Raymond Tallis, John Hawthorne, John Hick, and Michael Shermer. |
| 2020-Mar-09 • 27 minutes Why Anything at All? (Part 2) COSMOS — It’s the ultimate puzzle. It’s the haunting question. Why is there “something” rather than “nothing”? It seems impenetrable, uncrackable, unfathomable. But are there ways? |
| 2020-Mar-09 • 27 minutes What is Philosophy of Art? CONSCIOUSNESS — What is the nature of art? What makes something “art”, and why should we value it? What are aesthetics and art theory? Can philosophy of art enhance appreciation and practice of the arts? |
| 2020-Mar-09 • 27 minutes Can the Brain Explain Art? CONSCIOUSNESS — What is happening in our brains when we perceive and appreciate the arts? What are the neural substrates of artistic sensations, feelings, and emotions? How do diverse arts affect the brain? |
| 2020-Mar-09 • 27 minutes Can Art Clarify the Mind-Body Problem? CONSCIOUSNESS — Can art inform the classic mind-body problem? While the relationship between mental activity and physical brain continues to baffle (especially consciousness), can the existence and process of art provide insight? |
| 2019-Jul-30 • 27 minutes What Exists II? COSMOS - What’s the ultimate stuff of reality? What’s absolutely fundamental and non-reducible — the fewest number of categories within which every specific thing, of every general kind, can be classified? |
| 2019-Jul-24 • 27 minutes Salvation - A Philosophical Inquiry MEANING - It’s intended as ultimate purpose: salvation means eternal life with God. For believers, what actually happens, what kind of life? For non-believers, what can we learn about how religion works? |
| 2019-Jul-24 • 27 minutes Atonement - A Philosophical Inquiry MEANING - Can atonement absolve sin? For believers, how could The Atonement work? What’s the process? For non-believers, what does The Atonement say about the kind of God that supposedly designed it? |
| 2019-Jul-24 • 27 minutes Jesus as God - A Philosophical Inquiry MEANING - Why the astonishing claim that Jesus is God? Not like God. Not representing God. But literally God? One need not be a Christian, or even a theist, to appreciate the arguments. |
| 2019-Jul-24 • 27 minutes What's Strong Emergence? COSMOS - Here’s the claim: each level of the scientific hierarchy — physics, chemistry, biology, psychology — has its own special laws that can never be explained by deeper laws (physics). How can this be? |
| 2019-Jun-17 • 27 minutes Is the Person All Material? CONSCIOUSNESS - What makes a human being a "person?" What provides our sense of unity and continuity? While most people assume that to be a person is to have a soul, most philosophers-and some theologians-believe that persons are all material. |
| 2019-May-21 • 27 minutes Why is Consciousness Baffling? CONSCIOUSNESS - How does consciousness weave its magical web of inner awareness-appreciating music, enjoying art, feeling love? Even when all mental functions may be explained, the great mystery-what it "feels like" inside-will likely remain. |
| 2019-Jan-17 • 27 minutes What is Philosophy of Cosmology? COSMOS - We search deepest levels of cosmic reality, the big picture of the puzzle of the universe — beginning, size, structure, future, far future. We seek significance in cosmology, if there’s any to be. |
| 2019-Jan-17 • 27 minutes What is Fine-Tuning in Physics? COSMOS - Why do the “constants of nature” — masses of subatomic particles and strengths of forces like gravity and electromagnetism — have the values they do? Does fine-tuning “cry out” for explanation? |
| 2019-Jan-17 • 27 minutes What is Fine-Tuning in Cosmology? COSMOS - Here’s the claim: cosmic conditions that allow complex structures — galaxies, stars, planets, people — depend on a few “constants of nature” lying within tight ranges of values. But is fine-tuning valid? |
| 2019-Jan-17 • 27 minutes Is the Anthropic Principle Significant? COSMOS - Here’s the claim: conditions of the universe relate to the presence of observers. Does the Anthropic Principle convey deep insights? Or thwart science? For sure, it’s often misunderstood and controversial. |
| 2018-Dec-20 • 27 minutes What Would Multiple Universes Mean? COSMOS - What could be more startling than many universes – multiple universes, innumerable universes, perhaps an infinite number of universes? But does the multiverse really exist? |
| 2018-Dec-20 • 27 minutes The Multiverse: What's Real? COSMOS - Is there more than one universe? According to current cosmology, our entire gigantic universe is only one of innumerable universes, each universe like one tiny bubble in a limitless ocean of universes. What could all this mean? |
| 2018-Dec-20 • 27 minutes How Many Universes Exist? COSMOS - More than one universe? A ridiculous question no more! How could multiple universes be generated, and can we ever find evidence, one way or another? Talk about expanding your horizons: you can't imagine what's in store! COSMOS - More than one universe? A ridiculous question no more! How could multiple universes be generated, and can we ever find evidence, one way or another? Talk about expanding your horizons: you can't imagine what's in store! |
| 2018-Aug-23 • 27 minutes Would Multiple Universes Undermine God? MEANING - Arguments for God, and against God, each call the universe as witness, each count the universe as evidence. God believers invoke the universe's apparent fine-tuning. God deniers envision a vast number of universes, so that anything can happen by accident, including us. |
| 2018-Aug-23 • 27 minutes What's the New Atheism? MEANING - I hope God exists, which is why I listen to atheists and follow their arguments. If hope trumps reason I may be entombed in false belief. |
| 2018-Aug-23 • 27 minutes Can Religion be Explained without God? MEANING - Most people believe that God exists and religion is God's revelation. But some claim that religion needs nothing supernatural; that religion, without God, can flourish because personal psychology and group sociology drive religion. |
| 2018-Jul-26 • 27 minutes What is Analytic Theology? MEANING - Can the analytic enrich the theological, sharpening distinctions of doctrine? Can deep questions about God be addressed with methods and practices that are precise and rigorous? |
| 2018-Jul-26 • 27 minutes Epistemology: How Do I Know? MEANING - How can we have confidence in what we know or believe? What is knowledge? What is belief? How is belief justified? And, is justified belief, knowledge? How can we not doubt everything? |
| 2018-Jul-26 • 27 minutes Challenges of Analytic Theology MEANING - Is analytic theology for the better, clarifying beliefs? Or for the worse, undermining faith? How does it compare with philosophy of religion, biblical studies and exegesis, and systematic theology? |
| 2018-Jul-10 • 27 minutes Why Consonance in Science and Religion? COSMOS - The relationship between science and theology has easy conflicts and hard harmonies. Is consonance possible? What is consonance in science and religion that we should quest for it? |
| 2018-Jul-10 • 27 minutes Do Science & Religion Conflict? COSMOS - Don't let the heated argument or the smooth talk fool you: the struggle between science and religion carries deep significance. Meaning and Purpose hang in the balance as battle rages on many fronts. |
| 2018-Jul-10 • 27 minutes Cosmology and Creation? COSMOS - To most physicists, mindless laws generated the universe. A few believe that a supreme being is the creator. But don’t the discoveries of cosmology eliminate the need for supernatural causes? |
| 2018-Mar-22 • 27 minutes What Could ESP Mean? CONSCIOUSNESS - Extrasensory perception (ESP) probes reality. If ESP does not exist, then today’s physical world may be all there is. If ESP does exist, then reality may go beyond the physical world. But can ESP be tested by science? |
| 2018-Mar-22 • 27 minutes Does ESP Reveal Spirit Existence? CONSCIOUSNESS - Parapsychologists are sure ESP is real. Skeptics are sure it is not. But if ESP is real, would ESP need to go beyond physical laws, reaching into unknown non-physical realms? |
| 2018-Mar-22 • 27 minutes How Could ESP Work? CONSCIOUSNESS - If ESP were real, would it transcend space and time? How could our minds know stuff, and do stuff, not only beyond our senses, but also beyond the laws of physics? What are possible mechanisms? |
| 2018-Feb-14 • 27 minutes What is Time? COSMOS - To appreciate Time is to touch the texture of reality. Does Time differ from our common perceptions of it? Is Time fixed or flexible? |
| 2018-Feb-14 • 27 minutes What is Information? COSMOS - Information is all the rage in science, changing how we think about fundamental questions. Information has many descriptions, some of them surprising. Why is Information so important to scientists and philosophers? |
| 2018-Feb-14 • 27 minutes Can the Cosmos Have a Reason? COSMOS - Perhaps we cannot know the reason for the universe, if there is any. But is it even possible for the universe to have a reason? If yes, how would natural regularities and rules compare with some kind of goal or God? |
| 2018-Jan-02 • 27 minutes Wondering about God MEANING - The God debate is not a game. Is there a God? If so, what are God's essences and traits? What are all the ways that God could be? Or could not be? We discover different beliefs of different kinds of Gods. |
| 2018-Jan-02 • 27 minutes Is God Necessary? MEANING - Whether God exists may depend on whether God is necessary. Even if God exists, would it have been possible for God not to exist? In other words, even if God does exist, could it have been otherwise? |
| 2018-Jan-02 • 27 minutes Death Disrupted? CONSCIOUSNESS - Religions offer life after death. Many people are skeptical. Evidence for post-mortem survival? Again, skeptics abound. Can death ever be defeated? Are these possible ways? |