48 - Patricia Churchland: Neurophilosophy, Free Will, & Consciousness

Patricia Churchland is UC President’s Professor of Philosophy Emerita at the University of California, San Diego. She is among the most well-known and impactful figures working in the philosophy of mind, and a prominent early neurophilosopher who advocated the importance of neuroscience in the philosophy of mind. Pat and Robinson discuss three broad topics: neurophilosophy and ethics—particularly with reference to two of her recent books, Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality and Conscience: The Origins of Moral Intuition—what neuroscience has to say about the problem of free will, and the neurophilosophical approach to consciousness. You can keep up with Pat’s work at patriciachurchland.com, as well as on Twitter, @patchurchland.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt

Outline:

00:00 In This Episode

00:36 Introduction

3:07 A Family of Neuroscientists

12:27 What Is Neurophilosophy?

15:44 Neuroscience and Morality

22:13 Evolution and Morality

33:00 Mirror Neurons and Imitation

38:56 Neuroscience and Metaethics

47:58 Neurophilosophy, Free Will, & The Self

1:05:24 Neuroscience & David Chalmers’ Hard Problem of Consciousness