When Descartes famously concluded “I think, therefore I am”, he took for granted his ability to use the first person pronoun to refer to himself. But how do we come to have this capacity for self-conscious thought? We aren’t born with it, and while we may not be the only creatures that can think thoughts about ourselves, this ability does not seem to be very ... Show More
Mar 3
Catherine Elgin, "Epistemic Ecology" (MIT Press, 2025)
Humans are highly inquisitive, yet fallible and cognitively limited. How can we improve our epistemic lot despite our limitations? In Epistemic Ecology (MIT Press, 2025), Catherine Elgin develops a model in which individuals learn to rely on communal epistemic resources, such as ... Show More
1 h
Feb 18
John Drabinski, "So Unimaginable a Price: Baldwin and the Black Atlantic" (Northwestern UP, 2025)
What happens if we turn to James Baldwin, not just for the amazing quotations and excellent photos, but as a critical theorist? What if we read his nonfiction philosophically? What can Baldwin help us understand and do now? In So Unimaginable a Price: Baldwin and the Black Atlant ... Show More
59m 4s
Feb 10
Ellen Clarke, "The Units of Life: Kinds of Individual in Biology" (Oxford UP, 2025)
While we tend to think of biological individuals in terms of paradigmic cases – a dog, a starfish, a bacterium – our ordinary criteria for distinguishing one individual from another are inadequate for making these distinctions in general. If a starfish can literally split itself ... Show More
1h 8m
Mar 2022
Super Soul Special: Deepak Chopra Session: Belief Creates Reality
<p>Original Air Date: June 26, 2019</p><p>In a live appearance at UCLA’s Royce Hall, Deepak Chopra explains why a belief is simply a "thought that is true for you." He says the world that we create for ourselves is based on these thoughts, and thus beliefs shape our reality. Deep ... Show More
26m 13s
Jun 2019
Deepak Chopra Session: Belief Creates Reality
<p>In a live appearance at UCLA’s Royce Hall, Deepak Chopra explains why a belief is simply a "thought that is true for you." He says the world that we create for ourselves is based on these thoughts, and thus beliefs shape our reality. Deepak goes on to discuss how, as babies, w ... Show More
26m 13s
Sep 2021
Becoming Who You Truly Are (Self-Realisation)
<p>Life is a journey of self-realisation, of understanding and discovering who we truly are, and of maximising our potential. While this might be a life long journey, one can be closer or further from one's true self. This video analyses self-realisation from a philosophical ... Show More
17m 45s
Jan 2020
Why Self-Esteem is a Fairweather Friend
“The reason we don’t change,” says Shauna Shapiro, PhD, “is because most of us are missing this essential ingredient of self-compassion.” The psychology professor and author of Good Morning, I Love You joins Elise Loehnen to explain why we can forget about self-esteem and why “he ... Show More
43m 12s
