Episode 88

The fifth episode in a series wherein Mark Taylor talks with me about the mind-body problem and the so-called "hard problem" of consciousness. We continue to consider Plato's contribution to the mind-body problem via his theory of ideal forms, touching on Pythagorean and Buddhist concepts of the soul, then move on to Frank Jackson's "Mary the Brain Scientist" (or "Mary's Room") thought experiment. A Wittgenstein remark Mark quotes about talking lions then leads to a tangent involving an eccentric British zoo owner and the Canterbury psychedelic music scene of the 1960s before we get back on track.

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Some relevant links:

• Plato
• Plato's theory of ideal forms
• Plato's concept of the soul
• consciousness
• the "hard problem" of consciousness
• the mind-body problem
• Daniel Dennett
• Frank Jackson
• Jackson's "Mary" thought experiment
• There's Something About Mary (book of essays about the "Mary" thought experiment)
• The Truman Show (199? film)
• Ludwig Wittgenstein
• John Aspinall
• Soft Machine
• Caravan
• Kevin Ayers
• The Brazilian three-banded armadillo (Tolypeutes tricinctus)